The darndest things kids do always make people smile and there are those that just make everyone say "Wow!" If kids before mimic their dads while shaving or brushing their teeth, nowadays they've gone high-tech and try to get into their dad's Xbox Live account.
Kristoffer Von Hassel from San Diego did just that and most likely resulted to experts at Microsoft scratching their heads as security experts chuckle in dismay. Kristoffer is far from being a teen. In fact, he is just a five-year-old kid who just wanted to play on Xbox what his dad has been playing.
The kid has found the backdoor to his dad's Xbox Live account before Christmas 2013. His parents noticed Kristoffer having access to games that they have set restrictions to.
It was a eureka moment for him when he entered the wrong Xbox One password that prompted the system to take him to a verification screen. On the second screen, all Kristoffer had to do was press space several times, hit enter, and boom! The child has gained full control of the Xbox.
"I was like yea! I got nervous. I thought he was going to find out," said Kristoffer.
Robert Davies, the kid's dad who works for a computer security firm, was very proud of his son. Kristoffer was able to demonstrate to his dad on camera how he found the security flaw.
"How awesome is that! Just being 5 years old and being able to find a vulnerability and latch onto that. I thought that was pretty cool," said Davies.
Davies related that his son-cum-Xbox One-hacker has tinkered with a mobile phone when he was one and was able to unlock the device.
The family reported the problem to Microsoft, which acknowledged the problem and patched the hole.
"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," Microsoft stated.
The Xbox manufacturer rewarded Kristoffer with a 12-month subscription to Xbox Live, $50, plus four games by Microsoft. Not bad for a space, space, enter adventure to hack dad's Xbox account.
It also acknowledged the contribution of Kristoffer and listed him as one of its security researchers.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella appointed Phil Spencer as the new captain of the Xbox team as Microsoft steers in position to fight it out with arch nemesis PlayStation 4. Spencer will not only be making decisions for the game console but as well as Xbox Live, Xbox Music, and Xbox Video.
The company has also added more content to the Xbox platform to further transform it to a more-than-gaming-console device on the center of the living room. It injected more movie content from Starz and gave users access to Major League Baseball, and Major League Gaming.
Microsoft has also expanded the reach of the gaming console to 26 more markets across the globe, adding to the initial 13 when it launched in November. New features are also expected to be rolled out this month to update the Xbox One platform.
