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Five-Year-Old Finds Backdoor Into Xbox Live Account, Rewarded By Microsoft
Microsoft's newest security researcher is a five-year-old boy. How is this possible? Well, he was given the title after he discovered a backdoor on Xbox One into his father's Xbox Live account.
As reported by ABC 10, young Kristoffer Von Hassel discovered that after entering the wrong password for his father Robert's account, a second verification screen would pop up. Filling up the second password screen with spaces, rather than letters or numbers, allowed him to access his dad's account and play games his parents didn't want him to be playing.
When dad found out, he reported the security flaw to Microsoft. The company promptly fixed the error and then added Kristoffer's name to a list of security researchers who have contributed to making Microsoft products more secure. As an added bonus, Kristoffer also received some free games and a free year of Xbox Live.
[Source: 10News.com via IGN]
Our Take:
This is a feel good story that works out well for all involved. Kristoffer gets some free games and a cool title, Microsoft improves the Xbox One's security, and we all don't have to worry about people, kids or otherwise, breaking into our accounts.
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