Beware Modern Warfare 2 Phishing Attempts on Xbox Live

As Sony is dealing with a massive breach of the PlayStation Network's security, Microsoft has issued a 'Service Alert' warning gamers of "potential phishing attempts" while playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Specifics were not explained except to say the attempts could come by way of title-specific messaging in Modern Warfare 2. It might not sound as serious because it pertains to a game that came out in November 2009 but it's actually still one of the most popular games played on Live. For the week of April 11, the only Xbox 360 game with more unique users playing it online was Black Ops -- Modern Warfare 2 topped the likes of Halo: Reach and FIFA 11.

Reports have also been circulating that another security-related issue on Xbox Live had come up. According to certain message board posters, for a brief time all banned Xbox 360 consoles were unbanned (before being subsequently rebanned). However, Xbox LIVE director of policy and enforcement Stephen Toulouse claims this series of events did not take place. "Banned machines are still banned," he wrote. When again asked to comment on what happened, he added, "Nothing other than I heard the rumor, made sure machines were still banned, that's it."

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