I've had a wow account since wow first launched. I've never been hacked. I am not a moron. Most wow hacks are because of malicious software on a computer. I am careful about what i put on my computer and if i even slightly suspected something nasty i would instantly reformat and put windows back on.

Modern hackers use worms instead of trojans.
How I know that?
Well... Ehm...
* disappears into a green puff of smoke*

I responded with a quick authenticator get, and all is now well.

Got my account hacked twice back to back.... the first time it was right before the end of my usual spring hiatus, and wasn't even funded. As soon as i got that corrected and began to play, finding a nice guild and what I log on a few days later to find all of my characters in their underwear...

I got my authenticator for free from blizzcon=D

was playing wow just about until recently, 6 years.
Never been hacked, even with sharing my password to atleast 10 other players, had my share of players ive shared the password to that stole my gold however, always fun to ticket a GM and see your guild mate getting banned :D

You get it for almost free. They do not make any money off it.

Dear idiots complaining about the authenticator:

The Authenticator is a DIGIPASS GO-6. These run $25-$50 depending on the amount you order. Blizzard gets a discount for buying them in bulk, but they still cost money. You pay for shipping, Blizzard pays for the rest.

Sorry, should have been "or brute forced (because of the complexity)".

Darn no editing function.

My account was hacked as well. I had stopped playing for a year and I had a complex password unique to that account. Given those circumstances, I know it wasn't a keylogger (because of the timing) or (because of the complexity), so I can only assume Blizzard security was hacked at some point.

[url=#user_comment_55623]@Chris[/url]: Actually what we learned was that the account management page for blizzard europe was "leaky" and allowed people to gain information and hack accounts as a result of the changeover. I'm not stupid enough to put my account information in anywhere except something I'm certain is the real page.

Fucking happened to me once. I hadn't touched my wow account in a year, I was checking my armory as I contemplated going back for catacylsm. I'm spec'd for ret? Wat? I was prot before. Still prot gear. I try to get into my battle.net account and it had an authenticator on it. 2 weeks to get it back.

@Public Service Announcement: http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/540

Entire team is hipsters.

@Public Service Announcement: Ummm, you clearly don't know what a hipster is. Unless you're trying to turn it into a euphemism for faggot or bitch. To which I say, "Why don't you just straight-up call them that?"

Everyone complaining about the $6.50/free app download as a "Blizzard Money Grab" is being a hipster.

Stop being hipsters. Thank you and good day.

you can try to hide your password inside an apple pie

[url=#user_comment_55623]@Chris[/url]: wrong. keyloggers monitor the clipboard as well nowadays, exact for that same reason.

Heres why so many get hacked:
1. Same Passwort as on Fansites, fansite security is bad, hackers just attack fansites and try the account data on wow, fucking goldmine right there
2. Passwort is legolas,iamcool, yourmomlol,...
->Simple bruteforce breaks it

Fix that and at least 80% will go away

5. Most accounts are stolen by keyloggers or phishing attacks, in such a case having an authenticator can in all but the most severe cases save your account from trouble. The most severe is when they log what you put into the authenticator field and deny your logging in and log in themselves.

3. The authenticator is a great security tool. With one the account is actually more secure than all but a few types of bank accounts.

4. Blizzard also gives the option to use an application on smart phones, if you want to go that way.

cont.. one more.

2. I did not get Cataclysm as I stopped playing, but I remember reading that Blizzard wanted an authenticator requirement and thus would put them in the expansion.

cont.

my posts are too wordy it seems.

There is either some misinformation or fear mongering on here.

1. The Authenticator Blizzard sells for a cheap price as well as free shipping.

cont.

Triple post, SAT!

I always get warnings from Kaspersky that something is wrong. So what do I do?

I open Kaspersky Pure and use the virtual keyboard, while Pure runs a system check.
Sure enough, some programs with no origin are looking at my keyboard, probably wheeping from not seeing anything

[url=#user_comment_55586]@lulz[/url]: I can easily call Blizzard on my cell. What company are you subscribed to? Danish/Dansk: Hvilket abonnement bruger du?

[url=#user_comment_55609]@Nameless[/url]: What did we learn from that? Make sure you're actually on battle.net !!!

@Defiant Wolf: I know right? I said the same thing!

The authenticator is a fucking stupid solution to make even more money. WoW, being the biggest game in the whole entire world should protect it's own players better rather than gouging them for even more money because they're dumber than some hackers.

im rather scared of the times i have to schedule my gaming sessions two months ahead so i can retain my identity.

What a stretch! WoW players don't go outside. Or are active.

Yah, they offer an authenticator you have to PAY FOR on top of your box fees and subscription. You have to pay extra for a service that should of been included in your subscription as far as I'm concerned. Nice money grab there Blizzard/Activision, welcome to never seeing any of my money again

A lot of people got their account hacked without having any viruses at all after the change to battle.net.
Coincidence?

"Blizzard GM: Greeting fuking idiot

Since you didn't care about you account and loading too much porns on it this isn't my problem.

go get new Cd-Key.

Farewell nub!
PS: you can write the serve down, after all i reply on you so i expect Great..."
Troll now <3

:D LMAO! thnx god i'm expert or I'd rather fell in one of the trap such as "Sexy_Girl.exe xD

My account got hacked at the end of a 6 month sea deployment and no one had access to my account or email, so you don't really even have to do anything wrong for it to happen, but yay for free authenticator on android phone. ^_^

I ran virus scan(Which is Kaspersky), spybot, and malbytes and still never found the problem. I just had to call up Blizzard, change my e-mail address, and it stopped. I did order and authenticator and I have it now, which is really useful and a free pet :3


(Sorry for the three posts)

The only thing that it could've been was a new add-on I downloaded, but that was through curse client and usually they're pretty decent about keeping the garbage out.

I'm the type of person that never falls for crap or any such thing that could get my account hacked. Well, awhile back my account did get hacked and I have no idea what it could've been.

@Cyclone Duke: Go look up the hack rates before and after the switch. Do not delude yourself; there is no comparison.

[url=#user_comment_55586]@lulz[/url] http://www.wowwiki.com/Blizzard_Authenticator Life expectancy of the authenticator gadget is 7 years. http://www.vasco.com/products/digipass/digipass_go_range/digipass_go6.aspx

@ Legacy

Account hacks have been happening since the game's release and the battle.net changeover hasn't made them any more likely.

Authenticators cost ~€5 on the blizzard store, and this cost is only for shipping. You can also download the authenticator app to any phone which can use apps.

Why applaud them for offering a garbage fix to a problem they created when they jumped to email addresses instead of usernames.

Might as well applaud someone for giving everyone wetsuits after punching massive holes in a nearby dam.

Just as a heads-up to the ones worried about keeping track of an authenticator keyfob...they, as they say, make an app for that. More accurately, Blizzard *also* provides a phone app for free that does the same thing as the keyfob authenticator. Not sure of the details or the compatible phones.

your account gets hacked because

a) you are an idiot
b) blizzard does not care

i had my account hacked one day and i have alot of experience with avoiding scams,viruses,etc. it just happens some day.

i do applaud Blizzard for oferring a solution but i have one complaint:
FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING. SUPPORT PAYPAL/IDEAL. not everyone in the EU has a friggin creditcard!!

[url=#user_comment_55588]@Terry[/url] "being brute forced, then used and pumped." mmmmmh the innuendo....

oh wait, wow passwords filters to ****** in nerf now

username: wow_freak_1234
password: ******

[url=#user_comment_55586]@lulz[/url] A decent virus scanner and firewall is not enough. I've known people with those things who got hacked. Many accounts are being brute forced, then used and pumped. The problem is WoW is too popular, and accounts are worth REAL MONEY to these hacking asshats.

Causal Boy/lad gone to college?

An authenticator is going to run out of battery and then you'll need to call Blizzard to get it worked out. In my country (Denmark) you can't call Blizzard on your cellphone, it must be from a landline. Kek.

Honestly though, get a decent browser, virus scanner and firewall and you're safe.

The authenticators have been hacked as well, they won't even protect you anymore.

http://tobolds.blogspot.com/2010/03/world-of-warcraft-authenticator-hacked.html

http://www.mmocrunch.com/2010/02/28/world-of-warcraft-authenticator-hacked/

I've played wow for 4 years and I've seen good bad and ugly scam emails on my time but I've never had problems of identifying scam mails!

The email adress that they use ALWAYS gives it away.
Even if it doesn't, all stuff claiming to come from blizzard is worthy of suspicion.

@ Azariel

I prefer to buy a gadget than to have 1000 password to be able to do a simple action like using the bank

My wife got her account hacked. Responded to a very legitimate-looking email that claimed to be from Blizzard. That's all it took.

WoW is the biggest target out there. There's all sorts of drive-by malware that'll steal WoW account details.

We've both got authenticators now.

Actually had my account hacked at a time when I didn't even have time on it, and hadn't for months. I've got an authenticator now because the people who hacked it put one on it themselves. It's not all about key loggers and all that, some people just have -way- too much time on their hands.

Well, it's just wow. Trying to make money from everywhere with anything. And the more ridiculous is that I see so much F2P mmos more secured than wow.

Virtual keyboard at logging
Second pass to delete char/using bank etc
To easy password refused at start...

Blizzard? A gadget to buy

Say, did I ever tell ya'll about the time my buddy Keith got his WoW account hacked?

How about a full blood, urin and hair test for each time you want to start a game?

I don't mind taking any extra precautions if it isn't a big hassle.

I think the biggest mistake people make in their accounts is using the same password in multiple accounts. Not enough sites warn other people that it is a huge mistake to reuse passwords.

Actually, your computer is always at-risk if you're online. At any moment can any part of your computer or accounts be hacked. That's why I don't even bother taking any more precautions than necessary in most cases. Because if it's gonna happen, why bother?

Ironically, my World of Warcraft account is the most secure thing I own. Though not as much nowadays, since Battle.net accounts became mandatory. At the time it happened, I only merged it because I was, in fact, hacked into.

And this is precisely why my 200+ game Steam account has a long nonsensical username and password.

Much as it seems weird to need an authenticator to play a game worry free, the fact of the matter is that computers really are under constant threat of attack, regardless of what you personally actually do on them. It's why things like NoScript and the like have become so necessary.

"I'm practical enough to see that times have changed and we must change with them."
War. War never changes.

[url=#user_comment_55537]@pong[/url] Congratulations on looking very foolish assuming something. I owned an authenticator, it showed me I was taking a video game far too seriously. One of many reasons I quit.

One of the most commonly targetted accounts are in fact afk accounts. They've hacked the favorite modding sites, chat programs for it, people sell WoW information now when they target your other info

But, you lock your car right? To me an authenticator is merely a key for not being dumb.

My account got hacked once. I blame that I used a crappy password for it, but it couldn't have been keylogged. It was hacked at a point where I hadn't even logged into WoW or Battle.net for about 8 months, and the password wasn't used for anything else. Mobile authenticator was a godsend.

I'm not surprised. I was one of those b.net users that got my account locked for no alleged reason.

The problem is the hackers are slipping keyloggers and password sniffers onto your computer via flash, java, cookies, pretty much anything that has permission to store temporary files on your computer, usually through older versions of Internet Explorer, and unupdated versions of flash and java.

[url=#user_comment_55536]@Bill[/url]: Yes, I don't hate vests. And things that rhyme with vests, you know, those things that are always being claimed by people. Man, I hate it when they do that.

I would have expected you would have bought the authenticator for the pet alone. Considering the hat thing with TF2...

[url=#user_comment_55535]@Altherix[/url] Congratulations on quitting due to the stupidest reason imaginable.

[url=#user_comment_55524]@Francis[/url]: Francis, is there anything you DON'T hate?

The authenticator was one of the reasons I stopped playing WOW.

Technically the "hackers" are always at least a step ahead. Everything has security holes, they just aren't always known to the public, or worth exploiting to the black hats. Now that cell phones have their own OS (Android, iPhone) and are becoming increasingly popular, they'll begin to be targeted.

I recently got an email saying that my WoW account that I have touched in three years had been deleted because of "Abuse of Economy" or some fancy term that probably means gold farming.

Nothing to claim! :(

I hate WoW

@Cyclone Duke Genius!

http://tinyurl.com/6dt75ko