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Xbox Ones get viruses?

B

bsod

Banned
I was standing at the customer service area at Best Buy in order to trade in AC:Unity and I see the guy next to me drop off an Xbox One in it's original packaging. I think nothing of it, but a few minutes later while the associate is putting in my info into the system I hear one of the Geek Squad guys say "He's got a virus on his Xbox One. That's why he dropped it off." The Geek Squad area is right next to the customer service area so I take a look and lo and behold there's the Xbox hooked up to the TV with an error message that mentions "suspicious activity" and to contact Microsoft support. First, I think the guy found a way to mod his console and some anti-intrusion tech found it. Then I noticed the Internet Explorer tile and it's filled with malware/adware.

Is this a thing? Can Xbox One consoles get infected with malicious software like a typical Windows PC? I've never heard of this.
 
G

Gestault

Member
I'd imagine the retailer is making a joke. Admittedly, any popular enough piece of hardware can have malicious software written for it, but this seems very unlikely in a situation where you need signed software to operate at a low enough level to do this.
 
M

mcrommert

Banned
Yes
No of course not...stupid fucking people at best buy never cease to amaze me with their fucking garbage lack of knowledge about anything related to technology
 
JordanN

JordanN

Banned
Bessy67 said:
Probably someone from this thread:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=981089&highlight=porn

But yeah, I've never heard of a virus on a console. Is that even possible?
Click to expand...

The were viruses on the NES.

JpoTRb6.jpg
 
statham

statham

Member
Viruses? doubt it, I don't even remember the last virus I got on my computer, its been years. Now spam messages, thats a thing.
 
S

Sayter

Member
It's possible for any computer to get a virus. However, I thought XBL was a closed system. He may have modded it allowing the console to by pass XBL and access the internet some other way. But, that's reaching.
 
R

Rembrandt

Banned
Dude was probably watching porn on IE and got redirected to a malware tab and didn't know how to close it. My favorite porn site keeps redirecting me to them now.
 
B

Banjo-Kazooie

Member
A virus, aka he guy got banned for modding his console/account and the Best Buy people don't know what suspicious activity means.

Haha for real though, don't visit bad sites kids :p
 
B

bsod

Banned
Gestault said:
I'd imagine the retailer is making a joke. Admittedly, any popular enough piece of hardware can have malicious software written for it, but this seems very unlikely in a situation where you need signed software to operate at a low enough level to do this.
Click to expand...

I thought so at first but the "suspicious activity" error coupled with malware on Internet Explorer made me do a double-take. They were as surprised as I was.

shagg_187 said:
You should've taken a picture. Missed opportunity!
Click to expand...

Fuck!
 
R

RangerBAD

Member
henhowc said:
noticed this the other day...thought it was strange...
Click to expand...

If you read the description it's just for parental control for what websites you allow. Not like it says it protects you from virus because you can't really get one on a console. Closest thing to a virus you could put on your console is probably a jailbreak hack.
 
P

Poodlestrike

Banned
Well... not in the traditional sense. Like, it probably won't become infected at random, since most at-risk sites probably don't have the right set of malware. But yeah, if you put a USB drive loaded with the right bit of malicious software in, or go to just the right website, it'll probably get infected. So will anything else, it's worth noting.
 
RedAssedApe

RedAssedApe

Banned
RangerBAD said:
If you read the description it's just for parental control for what websites you allow. Not like it says it protects you from virus because you can't really get one on a console. Closest thing to a virus you could put on your console is probably a jailbreak hack.
Click to expand...

there's a separate web security app too :)

nevermind...it looks like it does something similar...just blocks sites suspected of phishing and serving malware
 
J

JeanPi

Banned
Suspicious activity might be related to someone trying to access his account without his authorization or a number of suspicious transactions. That's a guess thou'.
 
tensuke

tensuke

Member
Anything is considered a "virus" these days. Maybe the system crashed a few times from a hw failure or something, people would call that a "virus". Maybe the disc drive stopped working, a usb port failed, messages wouldn't send, etc. etc. All of these can be considered "viruses" by people who don't know better.
 
M

Minions

Member
M

Michael F. Assbender

Banned
tensuke said:
Anything is considered a "virus" these days. Maybe the system crashed a few times from a hw failure or something, people would call that a "virus". Maybe the disc drive stopped working, a usb port failed, messages wouldn't send, etc. etc. All of these can be considered "viruses" by people who don't know better.
Click to expand...

Did you read the OP? It goes beyond someone just saying there was a virus.
 
OccamsLightsaber

OccamsLightsaber

Regularly boosts GAF member count to cry about 'right wing gaf' - Voter #3923781
It's not impossible. I'm sure person that it determined enough would find a way to run arbitrary code.
 
V

vgamer1

Member
According to that reddit link, the message doesn't go away after factory reset and MS support know about the issue.

The virus is real, guys.
 
V

Vigilant Gambit

Member
henhowc said:
noticed this the other day...thought it was strange...
Click to expand...

That is a content filter app that blocks your PS4 browser from viewing certain websites, not an antivirus app.

Minions said:
If the Xbox One starts running a version of Windows 10 I don't think it would be outside the realm of possibilities. As for right now, I doubt it.

I did just find this in 10 seconds of searching:

http://www.reddit.com/r/xboxone/comments/2d8yyx/xbox_one_internet_exployer_virus_read_comments/

8fjNPkL.jpg



Apparently it is just a popup window trying to get you to submit information ie: a scam. Interesting they are able to use xbox 1 os menus to do so though.
Click to expand...

They aren't. They're using regular browser popup menus. The reason why it looks like that on Xbox One is because it's an Xbox One and that's how all of its menus look.

Game consoles can't get viruses, guys.
 
V

vgamer1

Member
Vigilant Gambit said:
That is a content filter app that blocks your PS4 browser from viewing certain websites, not an antivirus app.



They aren't. They're using regular browser popup menus. The reason why it looks like that on Xbox One is because it's an Xbox One and that's how all of its menus look.

Game consoles can't get viruses, guys.
Click to expand...

Did you read this from the reddit link:

Well it wouldnt allow me leave the site even after closing internet. After messing with it for about 30 min I called xbox and they told me that even after a factory restore they cant get it to work. There are know viruses similar to this, and they are aware of these currently.
I assumed if I could close the tab it would work, but there way for me 2.
Click to expand...

Take it with a grain of salt...
 
M

Minions

Member
Vigilant Gambit said:
That is a content filter app that blocks your PS4 browser from viewing certain websites, not an antivirus app.



They aren't. They're using regular browser popup menus. The reason why it looks like that on Xbox One is because it's an Xbox One and that's how all of its menus look.

Game consoles can't get viruses, guys.
Click to expand...

If what the OP said was true, the people at best buy were able to get the same message at best buy (the console would have to be unplugged and transported to best buy); then there may be something to this. Sounds like a classic browser hijacker. Wouldn't be too far fetched. The websites have to be writing something somewhere. Pretty interesting none the less. Is there no way to clear out the browser back to default? The only thing I can think of is everytime they run IE it goes back to the same website with the script.... but there should be a way to close all tabs right?
 
B

bsod

Banned
Minions said:
If what the OP said was true, the people at best buy were able to get the same message at best buy (the console would have to be unplugged and transported to best buy); then there may be something to this. Sounds like a classic browser hijacker. Wouldn't be too far fetched. The websites have to be writing something somewhere. Pretty interesting none the less. Is there no way to clear out the browser back to default? The only thing I can think of is everytime they run IE it goes back to the same website with the script.... but there should be a way to close all tabs right?
Click to expand...

It does appear to be some kind of browser hijacking considering the site the console was stuck on was one of those fake "is your PC infected?" virus scanner pages.
 
G

Garrett Hawke

Member
They might've had that thing that a few people have reported recently where the browser just redirects to some random ad site. It happened on both my iPhone and Chrome on my Mac - it just kept redirecting me to a site until I deleted all cookies on both devices. It was something to do with ads, as AdBlock solved the problem.
 
N

Noobcraft

Member
It's probably sandboxed but at the end of the day it is internet explorer.

As far as Best Buy goes, I like the people working there but one employee asked me if I unplug my kinect to make my games run better.
 
N

Noobcraft

Member
tghm1801 said:
They might've had that thing that a few people have reported recently where the browser just redirects to some random ad site. It happened on both my iPhone and Chrome on my Mac - it just kept redirecting me to a site until I deleted all cookies on both devices. It was something to do with ads, as AdBlock solved the problem.
Click to expand...
Make sure you whitelist (allow ads) on sites you care about!
 
M

Minions

Member
Heres a 20 page thread about it on gamefaqs
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/691088-xbox-one/68534554

surprised this is the first I've heard of it.

Some people said "just close the tab";

Other people say there are no tabs open anymore and still are having messages come up any time they visit any other websites on the xb1.

Noobcraft said:
It's probably sandboxed but at the end of the day it is internet explorer.

As far as Best Buy goes, I like the people working there but one employee asked me if I unplug my kinect to make my games run better.
Click to expand...

He is not wrong about unplugging the Kinect. They announced you can use more GPU? resources in games without it plugged in I believe.
http://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-xbox-one-is-10-percent-more-powerful-without-kinect/

Games must be coded to take advantage of this though; otherwise it won't do anything.
 
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