Keeping Your WoW Secure
Posted by 
iTZKooPA on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 - 13 Comments Tags: account security, avg free, blizzard authenticator, hacked, hackers, keylogger, scammer, secret question, security
iTZKooPA on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 - 13 Comments Tags: account security, avg free, blizzard authenticator, hacked, hackers, keylogger, scammer, secret question, security  Look Activision-Blizzard, you can even pull in some extra ad revenue while raising security! |
If there is one thing worse than scammers in World of Warcraft, it is the hackers. I was just recently informed that one of the rogues I have played with for years lost his account in this fashion. Generally you have a good shot at some sort of recovery from this predicament, but not for him. The failure to recover rest entirely on his shoulders. His Secret Question was apparently too secret - he forgot the answer - and his serial number was lost during a move. With the decision made for him, he said he is quitting WoW unless he can find a cheap way to get back in. A new Battlechest with Wrath in it would likely do the trick.
I have seen a lot of buddies get hacked, and sadly most of them were taken advantage of by people they thought were friends. Those personal hackers have it made, the trusting users actually gives them full access to their account and all its contents. Half the time looting wasn't their intent, but the temptation is just too great. The more traditional hacker has it a bit hardier.
Blizzard has been combating keylogging, viruses and other computer security based hacking attempts since their MMORPG went live. First, it was just reminders to not share your account data with anyone, including people claiming to be employees of Blizzard. Then it was the addition of the "Remember Account Name" check box at the login screen. Blizzard's latest attempt, the hardware-based Blizzard Authenticator, has been marred by their inability to keep it in stock. Not to mention the facts that it isn't a flawless system, is optional and costs a few bucks more.
I can't remember which MMORPG it was, but they had another anti-hacking measure that should be very easy for Blizzard to implement. An on-screen keyboard for the password. Teamed with a saved account name, any keylogger would have a hard time cracking our passwords if we entered the entire (or the same section) of our passwords via an on-screen keyboard. Even if they did have half of the password, they would simply move on to the next sucker who didn't use the keyboard and yoink all his gold, potions and enchanting goodies.
It is sad that we gamers have to go to these measures to stay safe, but the fact of the matter is with people willing to pay for gold, accounts and leveling services, the black market becomes inevitable. Unlike my buddy, keep your computer clean of spyware and viruses (AVG Free), stay off the shady sites, keep your information to yourself, and for the love of the gods, remember to save your serial digitally and make the Secret Question easy enough that you can remember the answer!
Security be with you.
Reader Comments (13)
Hey is it just me or is the new episode same as last weeks?
isn't technology wonderful?!?! it is incredible what we have to do to protect our computers from others. I am sure lag woudln't be anywhere near as bad if we could turn our firewall and virus scanners off.
as for security questions go, it is good to come up with something no one else can "guess", most definitely make sure you can "guess" or remember it when asked. even with WoW i change my account password monthly and I don't just use variations. Every password is unique.
godspeed to all of you.
oh yeah, i noticed it to. 13.4 & 13.5 are the same vids. did you link the wrong one?
lol, it is fixed. Thanks PL!!
I got my account hacked a couple of weeks before TBC was launched and ended up with a temp ban of two weeks. One month later a GM gave me 70g and an inventory filled with some of the gear I had lost.
Yet I didn't answer any of those questions. When I got the e-mail from Blizzard where they asked for my account info, serial number etc to restore my account, I replied with my username but added that I wasn't going to give them my serial number "just in case". The next day my account was up and running again and I could work on retrieving my lost gear and gold.
i have had 2 account happen like this... before BC i had a war that was maxed out in gear and all... bliz said buy a new game... my 2nd account i had a tankadin with some of the best end game gear on... bliz said get another game... so now i am on my 3rd acount, and saying its my last one..
Yeah i just got my friend into wow but as soon as he got to level 30 he was hacked and quit.
About the on-screen keyboard. Maplestory is using this function. You create a 4 digit pin that you have to enter to logg on. What's smart about this is that the keyboard SCRAMBLES the letters everytime you click one of those keys. That way even mouse-click loggers would have an issue. :]
Maplestory (by Nexon I think) uses on screen keyboard.
It also scrambles letters to avoid mouse click loggers.
i am in the process of getting my account back and if blizz tells me to get a new one i am out and will be playing XBL for a long time go halo 3
I like the idea of a keyboard on screen. However, keyloggers are bound to try to find some way to get around that too -_-
I'd say have Blizzard focus on who's giving what amount of money to who, whether it's through AH or CoD or mail (of course not including the money you share with other characters in your account and second account, etc). If it's like a high amount of money in a week/month, both the one giving the money and the one getting the money, should be put into a some sort of system. If it's happening more than once with any other account, punish them both :P I mean this won't stop until the ones paying them feel too much heat under their feet. After all when people stop paying them, they'll eventually stop trying.
I know it's a bit of breaking people's privacy, but I'm willing to pay that price to not have to worry so much about accounts being hacked.... Then again you also have the hackers that just hack other people's accounts to make people's lives miserable, because they have a twisted mind and they are corrupted with any kind of power or want to be challenged at any expense -_- .
i have noticed that since woltk after you type your account and pass you see something named Dowloading .... What exactly is downloaded ...?
I like the idea of the on screen keyboard since the Authenticator isn't currently available where I live T_T.