UPDATED: Xbox Entertainment Awards blighted by security breach

Microsoft has this morning been hit by a security breach of its Xbox Entertainment Awards 2013 service.

MCV was contacted by a reader with a link to a page that appeared to list all those who had voted and therefore been entered into the prize draw. The data included names, gamertags, emails and birthdays.

Those accessing the site were also free to edit or remove each listing.

The entire website has now been shut down. It is not known for how long the data was accessible before the closure.

MCV has contacted Microsoft for comment.

UPDATE: Microsoft has supplied MCV with the following statement: "We are currently experiencing technical difficulties with the Xbox Entertainment Awards landing page and have taken the site offline while we investigate.”

UPDATE 2: The reader who first contacted MCV about the issue claims that before its removal the list of users numbered 2,892.

UPDATE 3: Microsoft has issued a fuller statement on the breach that can be read here.

Here’s a screengrab: