Updates on Xbox Security

As many of you know, breaches in security on Xbox LIVE seemed commonplace over the last year, especially with the prevalence of the FIFA 12 hack that impacted so many TAers in recent memory. Microsoft was, of course, aware of the problem, and although they have been pretty mum on explaining what causes these issues, they have been busy working behind the scenes to ensure a more secure experience for the nearly 40,000,000 Xbox LIVE users who are out there.

Xbox LIVE General Manager, Alex Garden, took to the forums on Xbox.com to talk about some of the updates that have taken place to help protect your information. In addition to notifying members who may have compromised accounts to "add proofs, update their passwords, and, if necessary, contact Xbox support", the following steps have been taken:

- We’ve taken legal action to pull down online posts of gamertags, usernames and passwords gathered from malware or phishing schemes to help protect our members.
- Our Xbox LIVE Spring update included many behind the scenes improvements that help us build on security enhancements for the near future.
- We’re sending unique codes to the security phone numbers and secondary email addresses provided by members to verify authorization for Xbox.com purchases or account change attempts not stemming from a member’s trusted device.
- We’re working to reduce market incentives for criminal activity. Engaging in identity theft, trading in stolen accounts and committing credit card fraud are illegal and violate our Terms of Use. Those involved in these activities risk criminal prosecution, account and console bans. That goes for both sellers and buyers of known stolen accounts and content.As with anything involving security, it is very important that the individual user take what steps they can to make sure their information stays safe. To that end, it's suggested that you make sure your username and password for Xbox LIVE are used only for that purpose and that you use different usernames and passwords for other services. That way, if one of those other accounts is compromised, you won't have to worry about it impacting your LIVE information. In addition, Garden recommends checking your security information and making sure to update and lost or missing security proofs you may have. One final note is that, if you haven't done so recently, you may want to go ahead and change your password, just to be on the safe side.

Keep in mind that all the above is more-or-less just an FYI so you can stay ahead of the curve in terms of keeping your account secure. There's no major breach or anything of the like, but no one likes an interruption in their Xbox LIVE service, so what's the harm in taking the above steps to make sure your account is safe?