How easy is it to break into a Xbox One? Apparently a 5-year-old can do it.
As reported by 10News, 5-year-old Kristoffer Von Hassel found a way to break into his father’s Xbox One account by using an exploit that lets him gain access without the correct password. After attempting to enter the account with wrong password, a verification screen comes up. Von Hassel found that by filling the password field with nothing but spaces, you are able to access the account. This exploit has already been patched and fixed.
Von Hassel’s parents found out that he had accessed the account when they discovered him playing restricted video games. The Von Hassels then contacted Microsoft to report that their son had found how to get through into a locked account. As a reward for finding this issue, Microsoft awarded the young Von Hassel with four games, $50, and a yearlong subscription to Xbox live. Von Hassel is also now listed online as a security researcher who helps to make Microsoft’s systems safer. Seems like a good deal for exploiting a security system.
Microsoft issued in a statement on the matter:
“We’re always listening to our customers and thank them for bringing issues to our attention… We take security seriously at Xbox and fixed the issue as soon as we learned about it.”
It seems that this is not the only time that young Von Hassel has gotten through security systems. According to his father, it is the third of fourth time that Von Hassel has found a way to get through different security systems. Maybe Von Hassel will become a security expert some day. Or maybe Microsoft needs to up their game when it comes to the security systems that they use for their hardware. Maybe they really are not that secure after all…
