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Kristoffer von Hassel | |
---|---|
Born | 2008 (age 16–17) |
Nationality | American |
Kristoffer Wilhelm von Hassel (born 2008) is an American who, at the age of five, inadvertendly exposed security lapses in the Microsoft Live Xbox system, which his father then reported to Microsoft. [1] [2]
Hassel's dad works in computer security. They live in Ocean Beach, near California. [3] When the media started covering Hassel in early April 2014, he was enrolled in Kindergarten. [4]
After wanting to play his father's video games but having parental blocks preventing it, five-year-old Hassel tried hacking into the Xbox Live system by trying different combinations of passwords. Eventually, he found a back door security glitch that allowed him first to enter the wrong password, then in the following screen to enter a series of spaces to unlock the system. [2] After he had "exploited the security hole", Hassel's parents found him playing the restricted video games and asked him how he gained access. After he showed them, Hassel’s father contacted Microsoft to let them know about the security problem. [5] Microsoft responded “We’re always listening to our customers and thank them for bringing issues to our attention. We take security seriously at Xbox and fixed the issue as soon as we learned about it.” They also provided Hassel with a free year-long subscription to Microsoft Live Gold, four video games and $50USD. [6]
On its website, Microsoft has listed Hassel as one of its Security Researchers, of whom he is the youngest. [2] Of the people listed on the page as security researchers, he has been called "the most unusual but perhaps the most significant". [7] [8]
Davies has stated that Hassel had also learned "three or four other hacks" by the age of five, including how to bypass smartphone screen locks. [9]
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