15,000 Halo: Reach users may have been very upset when they logged onto the popular game only to find out that their online accounts had been reset. They lost all their credits and, as a result, their rank dropping down to the lowly recruit.
Bungie made the move after discovering that these users were using a process of “intentional disconnect” that allowed them to complete challenges 20+ times. Bungie also applied a one day credit earning ban for the users to “ensure that recipients receive an in-game notification of the action taken.”
The users may have lost all their online credits, but they will keep their commendations. Bungie has determined that commendations were not affected by the exploit and that it would be unfair to those who happened to use the glitch but would still like to have a record of their personal playing style. The company is also working on optimizing their banning mechanisms so that it is able to find and detect cheaters better than ever before.
Any users that still want to cheat are strongly advised to reconsider. Bungie didn’t ban all of the cheaters, just the one’s they deemed to be “egregious.” If this doesn’t work, Bungie may resort to a permanent ban, and none of us want to see that. Don’t ruin the game for yourself and others; don’t cheat.
(The original post from the official Halo: Reach forum is here)