Microsoft gives Xbox hacker a white hat

Microsoft has reportedly offered to provide white-hat security training to a 14-year-old hacker who launched a phishing attack within the Xbox game Modern Warfare 2 last month.

Rather than take legal action against the Dublin teenager, Microsoft Ireland general manager Paul Rellis said the company will help “develop his talent for legitimate purposes”, Irish Central reports.

Rellis made the statement during a keynote address at the Bank of Ireland Business Week.

The teenager, whose name had not been released, had launched the attack over the Xbox 360 platform that triggered an alert to millions of users. Microsoft issued a Service Alert to warn Xbox Live users of the threat.

"Users may receive potential phishing attempts via title specific messaging while playing Modern Warfare 2," the alert read.

Sony sued 21 year-old hacker George Hotz after he jailbroke and reverse-engineered the PlayStation 3 console.

The legal action is said to have motivated a spate of hacking attacks against Sony.

UPDATE: Microsoft has told Kotaku

The comments attributed to Microsoft Ireland's Managing Director Mr. Paul Rellis, when speaking at a business event last week, are inaccurate. He never said anything close to what is being reported in some Irish media. Mr. Rellis was commenting on various developers and hobbyists using drivers that allow other devices to display the raw data output from Kinect for Xbox 360 sensors. Microsoft can also confirm that the company has not offered to mentor a 14-year-old from Tallaght who purportedly was related to a phishing scheme.