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halo headache Warning: Hackers Attacking XBox Live

Xbox Live is being hit hard by hackers selling services that boot players from the network.

The booting service is gaining popularity with players who want to exact a measure of revenge on those who have defeated them in an Xbox Live game.

The attackers aren't really doing anything new, just using hacks that have been used against regular websites for years.

Microsoft is "investigating" the use of the hacking tools and said those caught using them would be banned from Xbox Live.

Chris Boyd, director of malware research at Facetime Communication says:

"There's been a definite increase in the amount of people talking about and distributing these things over the last three to four weeks. The smart thing about these Xbox tools is that they do not attack the Xbox Live network itself."

Instead, he says,the tools work by exploiting the way that the Xbox Live network is set up. Game consoles connecting to the Xbox network send data via the internet and, for that, it needs an IP address.

Many XBox Live games are "hosted" by players themselves.

If hackers can discover the IP address of whomever is hosting a game they can employ many of the attacks that have been used for years against websites.

"They get your IP address, put it in the booter tool and they attempt to flood the port that uses Xbox traffic," said Mr Boyd. "Flooding that port prevents any traffic getting out."

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