Up until recently I had a MS28 with IX 1.2 firmware(ancient I know!).

I hadn't bothered to continually update with the releases, because up until wave 3 I didn't really see the need to. I played originals only online, and backups offline(without cable connected).

Then wave 3 hit, and I still didn't update my FW but just patched the games.

Now I have the same 360, but I updated it to IX1.61, and it won't play the hybrid backups I have, and I understand I can use Activate ISO to play them.

Now I did some reading today and found out that when I was patching those wave 3 backups, that their stealth properties were compromised and that even playing them offline was a risk.

Is using activate ISO to play these offline backups anymore of a risk, then what I was doing before(patching wave 3 to play on 1.2)?

I'm going to use the activate ISO feature regardless, I'm just curious to find out if anyone else has any info on this?

No doubt, though my experience has been to the contrary.

Had the same console for 3 years, played offline with backups, online with original(mainly FPS' - Halo, COD, Gears) and I haven't been banned once.

I have played many games prerelease, but offline, and then gone online and played originals the same day. I always have my ethernet cable unplugged though when playing offline.