( CNN ) -- Hacking your Xbox : So easy , even a 5-year-old could do it ? A San Diego boy has the gaming world 's attention after he exposed a security flaw that let him log into his dad 's Xbox Live account , without permission , on the family 's Xbox One console . `` I was like ... yeah ! '' young Kristoffer Von Hassel said to KGTV-10 , a CNN affiliate . Kristoffer 's father , Robert Davies , noticed soon after Christmas that his son was logging into his account and playing games that were n't appropriate for his age . When he asked how , Kristoffer showed him a hack that seems simple in retrospect but is fairly impressive considering a 5-year-old found it . Kristoffer would go to his dad 's account and type in an incorrect password . That would take him to a password verifications screen , where he would simply tap the space bar repeatedly and then press `` enter . '' `` How awesome is that ? '' asked Davies , who works in online security himself . `` Just being 5 years old and being able to find a vulnerability and latch on to that . I thought that was pretty cool . '' He told KGTV that Kristoffer has figured out three or four other `` hacks , '' including getting past the lock on a smartphone by holding down the `` home '' key for long enough . Dad reported the vulnerability to Microsoft . And Microsoft acted , issuing a fix for the vulnerability . `` We 're always listening to our customers and thank them for bringing issues to our attention , '' the company said in a written statement . `` We take security seriously at Xbox and fixed the issue as soon as we learned about it . '' The company has even included Kristoffer 's name on a list of security researchers who have helped make online Microsoft products safer . For his discovery ( or , more accurately , for reporting it with his father 's help ) , Kristoffer will receive four games , $ 50 and a year 's subscription to Xbox Live from Microsoft . Whether a career in computer security awaits remains to be seen .
A 5-year-old California boy hacked his father 's Xbox Live account . Kristoffer Von Hassel was playing games he was n't supposed to play . Microsoft has fixed the exploit and credited Kristoffer . Dad : `` I thought that was pretty cool ''