Project Lore

[caption id="attachment_9612" align="alignright" width="222" caption="Never has a Random Number Generator been so friendly to players."][/caption] We all know somebody that has been hacked, but who realized it would get this bad? I sort of take it for granted that this sort of thing is going to happen in an online environment. Even if account security is normally iron-clad, all it takes is a few people unwittingly supplying their vital information to an untrustworthy source to break the system, but without being made aware of the official statistics, it's always been hard to get a grasp of the true scope of the problem. Well, it must be bad enough if Blizzard is considering making their Authenticators mandatory for all accounts. WoW.com claims to have learned from unnamed "inside sources" that this may soon be the case:

WoW.com has learned through trusted sources close to the situation that Blizzard is giving serious consideration to making authenticators mandatory on all accounts. According to our sources, while this policy has not been implemented yet and the details are not finalized, it is a virtually forgone conclusion that it will happen. This response is a direct effort to stop the massive number of compromised accounts by gold sellers and keyloggers.

As per the article, the volume of complaints has apparently gotten so massive, that it has backed up Blizzard's support system. Wonder why it's been three days since you opened your GM Ticket and still haven't received a response? Blame the hackers. Playing internet sleuth to figure out what's happened to thousands of accounts (and how to keep the vitcims happy) has dealt a huge blow to the company's internal resources. So let's say that Authenticators do go mandatory: how do you implement a plan like this on such a grand scale? There are still some 11+ million people playing the game and if you don't get a device into every one of their hands, you're going to lose subscribers anyway (simply because they won't be able to play the game). The obvious answer seems to be to include an Authenticator with every copy of Cataclysm. Blizzard has had some trouble manufacturing enough of the keychain-sized devices to match demand, and waiting until the expansion is ready to ship would give them enough time to create the required amount. Plus, it would presumably eliminate extra cost to the consumer. Sure, Authenticators are cheap, but tell that to the person who already pays you fifteen dollars a month! The only downside I could see is that a lot of people not in the United States likely play the game at internet cafes and don't actually buy boxed copies themselves. In the meantime, it might be best to bolster the Mobile Authenticator program. The application is already available for iPhones (and, for that matter, the iPod Touch if you don't have service with AT&T), but getting versions out there for Android and Blackberry devices as soon as possible would be a quick way to swell the numbers. What do you think of this potential change in policy? Overreaction or necessary precaution? It's clear that account hacking is happening, and it's happening a lot. Blizzard has to do something, right?