Online group 'DerpTrolling' made claims last week that it had hacked Xbox LIVE and released a large amount of sensitive information. This data supposedly came in the form of 1473 usernames and passwords, and the group has also reported that it made its way into Sony's online infrastructure as well. Sony reassured gamers that their information was completely safe, as no security vulnerabiities were detected.
It appears that the claims made by DerpTrolling regarding Xbox LIVE were false as well:
“We immediately investigated reports regarding some Microsoft Accounts including Windows Live and Hotmail and can confirm that no Microsoft site or service was compromised," the company told GameSpot.
Microsoft continued with some more reassurance:
"Microsoft takes account security and privacy seriously. Should we identify any specific account at risk for any reason, we will take action to protect the account. To help keep your information safe, we encourage you to set strong passwords, change passwords regularly and avoid using the same password for multiple accounts. For more information on password security, visit our website at www.microsoft.com/security.”
DerpTrolling also say they have hacked developer 2K Games, though it's very doubtful they've actually achieved anything akin to that. There just isn't enough concrete evidence to support the idea that they are actually capable of doing such a thing. Maybe we're all missing the point: this is a pretty great troll, if you think about it…
It's very possible that we've all been had. In which case, I tip my hat to you, DerpTrolling. You got yourself banned on Twitter, though, so I don't expect to be seeing much more of you.