As if gamers didn’t already feel like our credit card information is about as safe as a celebrity sex tape, a new study allegedly shows that ripping credit card data from a second-hand Xbox can be done by almost anyone.
A research team from Drexel University in Philadelphia claim to have pulled account information, including credit card numbers, using basic modding tools anyone can download freely from the interwebs.
Researcher Ashley Podhradsky said, “Microsoft does a great job of protecting their proprietary information, but they don’t do a great job of protecting the user’s data.” Zing.
She added that if you do want to sell off your old console, you should make use of a drive wiper like Darik’s Boot & Nuke, as a conventional reformatting won’t actually clear off all the data.
Ashley elaborates, “I think Microsoft has a longstanding pattern of this. When you go and reformat your computer, like a Windows system, it tells you that all of your data will be erased. In actuality that’s not accurate – the data is still available… so when Microsoft tells you that you’re resetting something, it’s not accurate.”
Microsoft has responded, basically saying they’ll look into it, but that they’re not convinced.
“We are conducting a thorough investigation into the researchers’ claims. We have requested information that will allow us to investigate the console in question and have still not received the information needed to replicate the researchers’ claims,” said Jim Alkove, general manager of Microsoft’s security of interactive entertainment business.
“Xbox is not designed to store credit card data locally on the console, and as such seems unlikely credit card data was recovered by the method described. Additionally, when Microsoft refurbishes used consoles we have processes in place to wipe the local hard drives of any other user data,” he said.
“We can assure Xbox owners we take the privacy and security of their personal data very seriously.”
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