Microsoft's Major Nelson Gamercard cracked by hacker [update]

by Ben Gilbert 

Microsoft podcaster and Xbox spokesperson Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb's Gamercard has fallen victim to a hacker (or hackers) sometime this evening. A quick check on Xbox.com reveals the account is still being effected right now (though we have to imagine someone over in Redmond is hard at work on a fix) has been fixed.

Hryb's account info was altered to reflect some ... rather offensive pejoratives, and images from Kotaku reveal an odd spam statement ("ANY ACCOUNT $100 PAYPAL!!!!!!!!"). A website by the name of "LiGHTzz" has a video that proclaims responsibility for the hacking and even offers up a YouTube video advertising his services to others -- the name Yasiel Rodriguez, a resident of Miami, Fl., is registered to the domain name in question.

We've contacted Microsoft regarding the matter and will keep you updated on a response (discussed a bit by Xbox's Stephen Toulouse on Twitter, in the meantime). Proceed with caution after the break to see the NSFW image if you wish -- we'd suggest against it.

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Kotaku.com

Xbox Live Director's Account Hacked! (Are You Next?)

Larry Hryb, Director of Programming for Microsoft's Xbox LIVE online gaming network, has had his Xbox LIVE profile hacked. Warning: NSFW language ahead.

Known by his gamertag Major Nelson, Hryb was part of the Xbox 360 launch team and was one of the first game execs to have a regular podcast and blog.

In his LIVE account, his bio info (Name, Location) and the speech bubble appear to be hacked. The hacker have been writing various messages on Major Nelson's account:

Kotaku is confirming with Microsoft whether Hryb has been informed of this hack and what further steps will be taken.

Website lightzz.com is claiming responsibility for the hack and has put up a YouTube video of his handiwork as well as his Skype name (Roid-Monkey) and is even offering to hack other players' accounts for US$60. Whether or not that means the accounts of other Xbox LIVE users are vulnerable to a possible exploit in Xbox LIVE accounts remains to be seen.

Sixty dollars to hack people's accounts? This appears to be a new cottage industry.

Update: "I have control of the account," Hryb tells Kotaku. "The enforcement team took care of it." According to the Director of Policy and Enforcement for Xbox LIVE Stephen Toulouse (via Twitter), the hack looks like it was "very specific" and "very targeted" to Hryb's account. Toulouse is investigating the matter further.

That dude about to get destroyed.

Ah.. thst movie was great back in the days.. with a young Angelina Jolie..

the people on Kotaku already found out where this fucker lives and his name if I'm not mistaken

Microsoft needs to remove their own OS too

Good thing they changed their ToS or Major Nelson would be banned.

wow that guy on the youtube video seriously needs to shut up. his voice is annoying, and plus whats the point of doing this?

I love it when someone gets back at MS, it also amuses me to think that guy is probably getting water-boarded in some tiny ass MS dungeon as we speak!

posting others' personal information is against the rules regardless of the reason, please keep this in mind - Tor

I know a friend who got his account hacked.  Took him a couple of months to get it back.