-RedJ wrote First off, one thing to prevent being hacked is do not trash talk or make enemies. People DO have the ability to steal Xbox Live accounts and they do like to max out credit/debit cards because they like to be **** and f..k up people's lives; this means it is always best to use prepaid cards rather than adding a card to the account. They also sell accounts, but they wouldn't if people would quit purchasing stolen accounts.

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Q: How can they take your account?

A: They can use something known as social engineering. This means they call up MS and gather information on your account. After gathering enough information they get ahold of your secret answer. Another method is getting your IP Address and somehow finding information on your account via IP. Fortunately for me, I am at a university where thousands of people are on the internet and on Xbox Live so this is an advantage I have.

Q: How can I prevent them from accessing my secret question?

A: This is a very simple trick that will leave social engineer'ers at a loss (unless they know how to somehow get around it... some do know, some don't. I know how to get around it so it IS possible, just difficult... and expensive). This trick involves using symbols in your secret answer. Symbols that can be obtained by hitting the Right and Left Triggers. When the "hacker" is given the secret question or goes to change it, Microsoft's database decodes the symbol as a "?" which prevents them from getting your answer to change your password. When you use a symbol, though, you MUST make sure you capture it or take a picture of it so you remember which one to use. This makes it impossible for the thief to get your account.

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More ways to create a more secure account

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Change your password every 30 days. By changing your password every 30 days it prevents the thief from changing your password upon obtaining the account. You do this by going to [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] and signing in. Update this every 30 days and you can get your account back, call Microsoft, and request for them to investigate your problem. Alternately, if somebody recovers your account, you may use your secret question and secret answer to reset your password INSTANTLY and send it to your email account. I do believe you need your secret answer to change your secret answer so you are safe in that aspect.

Create an Xbox Live passcode. This passcode can be created by hitting your guide button, going all the way to the right to account management, going to passcode, and setting one. When the thief recovers the account, they will then be unable to sign into Live. I do not think this can be taken off of your account. One of the Imfamous guys says it can but I do not believe it can be done after speaking with Microsoft just a few moments ago.

Call up Microsoft and request for something to be put on your account. When you call Microsoft and you give them your account they can instantly pull it up with ALL of your information on their screen. They also have notes that the previous person has left. So, call up Microsoft and ask the person to leave a note like, "The owner of the account knows the secret word: ________" or something along the lines of that. This way they INSTANTLY know NOT to speak to you unless you know the word/phrase. They will try to assure you that they do not give out information but they are required to say that. Tell them you wish for them to put it in the notes and they will. If they refuse to, ask to speak to a Supervisor. It may take a few moments to get the Supervisor but just wait, you will get him. He will feed you a bunch of bullsh.t and this and that but just tell him what you want done and make sure he tells you he did. If you can, record the entire conversation on speakerphone with a computer microphone and at the end of the conversation inform him you recorded the entire thing and if anything happens you will sue him. This will ensure that he does what you wish because lets be honest here, he doesn't want to lose his job and sometimes being nice to these people just doesn't work. Lie if you must, just get it done. This will drop social engineers dead in their track.

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Thank The Topic If Helped 8)

TTGDerankedCod4 wrote repped 4, its not a lot but thanks, i lost my cod4 acc a yer ago, i just got gold ak and i had 6m on saints row 2