I haven't played in awhile, but I noticed after I merged into a battle.net account I constantly get spam emails saying that my account has been suspended for unusual activity, and possible compromise, blah blah blah. I don't plan on ever playing wow again, so it's no big deal. Just I hate logging into my email now and seeing my junk folder with 500+ emails a day rofl
I hate to admit it but i d/l'ed the WoW trial in a moment of weakness about a year ago. Played for a few hours, got bored and uninstalled it. Then a couple of weeks ago i get an email saying...
Greetings!
This is an automated notification regarding the recent change(s)
made to your World of Warcraft account. Your password has recently been modified through the Password Recovery website.
*** If you made this password change, please disregard this notification. However, if you did NOT make changes to your password
If you are unable to successfully verify your password .
using the automated system, please contact Billing & Account Services at 1-800-59-BLIZZARD (1-800-592-5499) Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm Pacific Time or at billing@blizzard.com. Account security is solely the responsibility of the account holder. Please be advised that in the event of a compromised account, Blizzard representatives typically must lock the account. In these cases the Account Administration team will require faxed receipt of ID materials before releasing the account for play.
Regards,
The World of Warcraft Support Team Blizzard Entertainment
I could care less but i have no idea how they hacked into it since i forgot the account even existed lol.
You used your account info to do the battlenet thing, and they have access to your computer or email, got the info now.
Your problem, not Blizzards.
Well first of all everyone is forced to join Battlenet so thats sort a BS statement. IT's not his fault Blizz forced him to join Battlefail, which was known for being non secure in the first place, for anyone who remembers Diablo hacks. Second of all thousands of people got hacked from about 2 weeks before to right at the release of the last patch. Anyone with a brain who plays the game and is not a totally braindead WOW fanatic, might have noticed the crap ton of guilds complaining about hacked accounts emptying their bank accounts.
One word. Authenticator. I've yet to hear of anyone losing a legitimate account thats been locked down by one.
A friend of mine recently got hacked when he went to wowarmory.com. It was a redirected site (I believe) and asked him for his username/pass before it directed him to the armory site (wowarmory DOES NOT require you to do this). It was very late-night/early morning so he may have had a misspelling in the url. Apparently, Blizzard's been hit by a slew of these sites and it took him about 19 days to get all of his stuff back. They were nice enough to give his 80's 10 frost emblems for his lost time, but the hassle was enormous
While i dont believe that Blizzard have themselves been hacked, i do think however that Blizzard are in part responsible for the amount of hacks that are occuring, the weakness being that they are forcing people to use their email addresses as login names. I really dont know on what basis they thought this could possibly be a good idea, far too few players of WoW have any real computer skills - including compsec, so while its all well and good for the tech savvy players to take this all in their stride, it was always going to be the case that the less informed would be exposed to a heightened level of risk, it really was nothing less than throwing them to the wolves. Whatever benefits may have been gained by converting accounts to Battlenet ones, was entirely at the expense of the customers, to be honest, i wouldnt wonder if at some point in the near future, Blizzard are called to account for this.
While i dont believe that Blizzard have themselves been hacked, i do think however that Blizzard are in part responsible for the amount of hacks that are occuring, the weakness being that they are forcing people to use their email addresses as login names. I really dont know on what basis they thought this could possibly be a good idea, far too few players of WoW have any real computer skills - including compsec, so while its all well and good for the tech savvy players to take this all in their stride, it was always going to be the case that the less informed would be exposed to a heightened level of risk, it really was nothing less than throwing them to the wolves. Whatever benefits may have been gained by converting accounts to Battlenet ones, was entirely at the expense of the customers, to be honest, i wouldnt wonder if at some point in the near future, Blizzard are called to account for this.
By whom? Government? Both state and federal are even more clueless than the typical person when it comes to legitimate computer security(as opposed to security theater). I totally agree that using emails as log on is not a bright idea. But authenticators ARE available, and everyone should get one and lock down their account.
While i dont believe that Blizzard have themselves been hacked, i do think however that Blizzard are in part responsible for the amount of hacks that are occuring, the weakness being that they are forcing people to use their email addresses as login names. I really dont know on what basis they thought this could possibly be a good idea, far too few players of WoW have any real computer skills - including compsec, so while its all well and good for the tech savvy players to take this all in their stride, it was always going to be the case that the less informed would be exposed to a heightened level of risk, it really was nothing less than throwing them to the wolves. Whatever benefits may have been gained by converting accounts to Battlenet ones, was entirely at the expense of the customers, to be honest, i wouldnt wonder if at some point in the near future, Blizzard are called to account for this.
By whom? Government? Both state and federal are even more clueless than the typical person when it comes to legitimate computer security(as opposed to security theater). I totally agree that using emails as log on is not a bright idea. But authenticators ARE available, and everyone should get one and lock down their account.
Authenticators are available, but not to everyone. people without CC's for instance might find that they are not available for purchase by other means. And if the only way of making the accounts secure is to have one, then shouldnt Blizzard be providing them for all their customers?
While i dont believe that Blizzard have themselves been hacked, i do think however that Blizzard are in part responsible for the amount of hacks that are occuring, the weakness being that they are forcing people to use their email addresses as login names. I really dont know on what basis they thought this could possibly be a good idea, far too few players of WoW have any real computer skills - including compsec, so while its all well and good for the tech savvy players to take this all in their stride, it was always going to be the case that the less informed would be exposed to a heightened level of risk, it really was nothing less than throwing them to the wolves. Whatever benefits may have been gained by converting accounts to Battlenet ones, was entirely at the expense of the customers, to be honest, i wouldnt wonder if at some point in the near future, Blizzard are called to account for this.
By whom? Government? Both state and federal are even more clueless than the typical person when it comes to legitimate computer security(as opposed to security theater). I totally agree that using emails as log on is not a bright idea. But authenticators ARE available, and everyone should get one and lock down their account.
Authenticators are available, but not to everyone. people without CC's for instance might find that they are not available for purchase by other means. And if the only way of making the accounts secure is to have one, then shouldnt Blizzard be providing them for all their customers?
I'd say that what be a good next step. I'd not say that they are the only means, but they may well be one of the most practical.
I hate to admit it but i d/l'ed the WoW trial in a moment of weakness about a year ago. Played for a few hours, got bored and uninstalled it. Then a couple of weeks ago i get an email saying... Greetings!
This is an automated notification regarding the recent change(s)
made to your World of Warcraft account. Your password has recently been modified through the Password Recovery website.
*** If you made this password change, please disregard this notification. However, if you did NOT make changes to your password
If you are unable to successfully verify your password .
using the automated system, please contact Billing & Account Services at 1-800-59-BLIZZARD (1-800-592-5499) Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm Pacific Time or at billing@blizzard.com. Account security is solely the responsibility of the account holder. Please be advised that in the event of a compromised account, Blizzard representatives typically must lock the account. In these cases the Account Administration team will require faxed receipt of ID materials before releasing the account for play.
Regards,
The World of Warcraft Support Team Blizzard Entertainment
I could care less but i have no idea how they hacked into it since i forgot the account even existed lol.
That is a phishing email. The sender hopes that you will click on a link that will take you to what looks like the wow website and hope you enter your account information there.
So Blizz forces people to join Bnet....they have to use their email addy to do so....which may be the reason for phishing emails or worse.....accounts are stolen......Blizz will help protect you by selling you an authenticator .......is this what is happening here?
So Blizz forces people to join Bnet....they have to use their email addy to do so....which may be the reason for phishing emails or worse.....accounts are stolen......Blizz will help protect you by selling you an authenticator .......is this what is happening here?
No that is not what is happening.
Account hacking was a major problem before the battlenet changes.
Authenticators were available long before the battlenet changes.
The "reason" for phishing scams is because people are not educated about security and it is profitable and easy for hackers.
You are trying to twist years of account hacking problems as if it is somehow caused by a recent change.
So Blizz forces people to join Bnet....they have to use their email addy to do so....which may be the reason for phishing emails or worse.....accounts are stolen......Blizz will help protect you by selling you an authenticator .......is this what is happening here?
No that is not what is happening.
Account hacking was a major problem before the battlenet changes.
Authenticators were available long before the battlenet changes.
The "reason" for phishing scams is because people are not educated about security and it is profitable and easy for hackers.
You are trying to twist years of account hacking problems as if it is somehow caused by a recent change.
Calm down sheriff Im not trying to twist anything. My reason for asking this was because I quit your "gem of a game" long before it became mandatory to join Bnet to continue paying my monthly fee and have received phishing emails as well. And I would add that they are coming more frequently now even though it is denied by some.
So Blizz forces people to join Bnet....they have to use their email addy to do so....which may be the reason for phishing emails or worse.....accounts are stolen......Blizz will help protect you by selling you an authenticator .......is this what is happening here?
No that is not what is happening.
Account hacking was a major problem before the battlenet changes.
Authenticators were available long before the battlenet changes.
The "reason" for phishing scams is because people are not educated about security and it is profitable and easy for hackers.
You are trying to twist years of account hacking problems as if it is somehow caused by a recent change.
Calm down sheriff Im not trying to twist anything. My reason for asking this was because I quit your "gem of a game" long before it became mandatory to join Bnet to continue paying my monthly fee and have received phishing emails as well. And I would add that they are coming more frequently now even though it is denied by some.
I was just pointing out your flawed logic that is typically slanted to suit your agenda.
Much like people denying there are not more phishing scam emails now. Care to point those people out?
So Blizz forces people to join Bnet....they have to use their email addy to do so....which may be the reason for phishing emails or worse.....accounts are stolen......Blizz will help protect you by selling you an authenticator .......is this what is happening here?
No that is not what is happening.
Account hacking was a major problem before the battlenet changes.
Authenticators were available long before the battlenet changes.
The "reason" for phishing scams is because people are not educated about security and it is profitable and easy for hackers.
You are trying to twist years of account hacking problems as if it is somehow caused by a recent change.
Calm down sheriff Im not trying to twist anything. My reason for asking this was because I quit your "gem of a game" long before it became mandatory to join Bnet to continue paying my monthly fee and have received phishing emails as well. And I would add that they are coming more frequently now even though it is denied by some.
I was just pointing out your flawed logic that is typically slanted to suit your agenda.
Much like people denying there are not more phishing scam emails now. Care to point those people out?
So when i say that i receive emails about my account security even though i didnt join Bnet my logic is flawed in thinking perhaps the problem goes deeper than Bnet? Sure I will point one out. Go back a few posts and you will find it is yourself who denied the upswing of reported hacks since Bnet became mandatory. But im sure that isnt what you meant at all is it?
I find it interesting how so many people with 5 posts only got their WoW accounts hacked and they did not do anything anything wrong. I work as a CSR so I know when people call to complain it is NEVER their fault. It is ALWAYS the company fault. People always do everything right and never make a mistake. Its ridiculous to even consider that a person with no technical PC knowledge is better protected from hackers then a multi-million corporation with a professional team guarding its data. No sir, not the people's faults. It must be the company - their bad security or even an insider job.
Well it just happened to me on my account. I canceled my subscription back in August. I got an email this morning from a friend asking me why I'm not saying hello to him in game. "I'm not playing" I replied. "You've been on 24 hours a day 7 days aweek for 5 days" he says.
I go to the Battlenet log in and change my password but then it requires some kind of "authenticator key" to access my account. I do a little research and realize I have been "locked out" of my own account by a device designed to add security (oh the irony).
I called Blizzard support (50 minutes on hold) and got a very helpful guy, who said "Yep...Chinese gold farmer". We went through the process of changing my password and removing the authenticator key.
I've always been skeptical of people claiming lost items due to hacking as it had never happened to me. I won't know what is left of my characters items (he had 50 mounts including the chopper) until I re-sub someday.
The customer service rep said I most likely got a key logger from one of the add-ons I got. I have also been downloading a lot of torchlight mods as of late and think that could possibly be the culprit as well.
Went and checked my email account I use for games and Ive received two today about two hours apart. One saying my WOW account may have been compromised the other saying my Bnet account password has been changed. Thing is, I dont have a Bnet account. Most of them go to my spam folder but now and then one will get into my inbox.
So Blizz forces people to join Bnet....they have to use their email addy to do so....which may be the reason for phishing emails or worse.....accounts are stolen......Blizz will help protect you by selling you an authenticator .......is this what is happening here?
No that is not what is happening.
Account hacking was a major problem before the battlenet changes.
Authenticators were available long before the battlenet changes.
The "reason" for phishing scams is because people are not educated about security and it is profitable and easy for hackers.
You are trying to twist years of account hacking problems as if it is somehow caused by a recent change.
Calm down sheriff Im not trying to twist anything. My reason for asking this was because I quit your "gem of a game" long before it became mandatory to join Bnet to continue paying my monthly fee and have received phishing emails as well. And I would add that they are coming more frequently now even though it is denied by some.
I was just pointing out your flawed logic that is typically slanted to suit your agenda.
Much like people denying there are not more phishing scam emails now. Care to point those people out?
So when i say that i receive emails about my account security even though i didnt join Bnet my logic is flawed in thinking perhaps the problem goes deeper than Bnet? Sure I will point one out. Go back a few posts and you will find it is yourself who denied the upswing of reported hacks since Bnet became mandatory. But im sure that isnt what you meant at all is it?
Read the highlighted parts
Perhaps you don't pay attention to what is written or you are in to big a rush to make your point, but those are two different questions. You are again twisting things to produce your own answer.
Not that you even got the facts of what I said right, but at this point I am done explaining things to you.
That being said, why does something have to have changed recently?
I hear what you are saying, but how do you explain the following post? I'm seeing more and more of these recently and had never heard of it happening prior to the last 3 to 4 weeks.
He only played once about a year ago and apparently had never received any e-mails about his WoW account up till about 3 weeks ago. I can't say for certain, but this appears to be a valid e-mail from Blizzard notifying him that his password has been changed. That is not typically what has happened in the passed. A password change on an account that's been inactive for over a year? In the passed most account compromises were on ACTIVE accounts, in fact I had NEVER heard of an inactive account being compromised prior to the last couple of weeks.
That's different in my humble opinion. And yes it could be explained that they have had his account info for over a year and just now getting around to his account, but does that sound any more plausible then what I'm suggesting? It doesn't to me. Not a bit more plausible and in fact I think it's a lot more inplausible. He only played for a few hours and was somehow keylogged in that short period of time and then the information used a year later. C'mon, surely you see this is as absurd as anything that I have suggested if not more and this has only started happening in the last month or so.
I see a new pattern in recent events. That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
A friend of mine recently got hacked when he went to wowarmory.com. It was a redirected site (I believe) and asked him for his username/pass before it directed him to the armory site (wowarmory DOES NOT require you to do this).
This is not necessarily true. WoW armory does indeed ask you for your username and password under certain circumstances like if you would like to look at the guild bank log. You have to be logged in to do that.
I hate to admit it but i d/l'ed the WoW trial in a moment of weakness about a year ago. Played for a few hours, got bored and uninstalled it. Then a couple of weeks ago i get an email saying... Greetings!
This is an automated notification regarding the recent change(s)
made to your World of Warcraft account. Your password has recently been modified through the Password Recovery website.
*** If you made this password change, please disregard this notification. However, if you did NOT make changes to your password
If you are unable to successfully verify your password .
using the automated system, please contact Billing & Account Services at 1-800-59-BLIZZARD (1-800-592-5499) Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm Pacific Time or at billing@blizzard.com. Account security is solely the responsibility of the account holder. Please be advised that in the event of a compromised account, Blizzard representatives typically must lock the account. In these cases the Account Administration team will require faxed receipt of ID materials before releasing the account for play.
Regards,
The World of Warcraft Support Team Blizzard Entertainment
I could care less but i have no idea how they hacked into it since i forgot the account even existed lol.
That is a phishing email. The sender hopes that you will click on a link that will take you to what looks like the wow website and hope you enter your account information there.
Your account is most likely untouched.
You don't know that for sure. Nothing in that e-mail suggests that it's bogus. I in fact recieved an identical e-mail from Blizzard when my account was hacked. No, I didn't click on the link, in fact there was no link in the e-mail, only a URL that could be typed in just like this one here. The first thing I did was ask my son to log into my account using my user-id and password because I was at work and couldn't do it and he said the password was wrong. My account WAS hacked.
You are making assumptions based on what you believe to be true that are not necessarily true.
I hate to admit it but i d/l'ed the WoW trial in a moment of weakness about a year ago. Played for a few hours, got bored and uninstalled it. Then a couple of weeks ago i get an email saying... Greetings!
This is an automated notification regarding the recent change(s)
made to your World of Warcraft account. Your password has recently been modified through the Password Recovery website.
*** If you made this password change, please disregard this notification. However, if you did NOT make changes to your password
If you are unable to successfully verify your password .
using the automated system, please contact Billing & Account Services at 1-800-59-BLIZZARD (1-800-592-5499) Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm Pacific Time or at billing@blizzard.com. Account security is solely the responsibility of the account holder. Please be advised that in the event of a compromised account, Blizzard representatives typically must lock the account. In these cases the Account Administration team will require faxed receipt of ID materials before releasing the account for play.
Regards,
The World of Warcraft Support Team Blizzard Entertainment
I could care less but i have no idea how they hacked into it since i forgot the account even existed lol.
That is a phishing email. The sender hopes that you will click on a link that will take you to what looks like the wow website and hope you enter your account information there.
Your account is most likely untouched.
You DON''T know that for sure. Nothing in that e-mail suggests that it's bogus. I in fact recieved an identical e-mail from Blizzard when my account was hacked. No, I didn't click on the link, in fact there was no link in the e-mail, only a URL that could be typed in just like this one here. The first thing I did was ask my son to log into my account using my user-id and password because I was at work and couldn't do it and he said the password was wrong. My account WAS hacked.
You are making assumptions based on what you believe to be true that are not necessarily true.
Good catch pappy. Looks like I didn't paste the edits about hovering over the links to see where they point to as a quick way of spotting phishing emails. It reads totally different otherwise. My mistake.
That being said, why does something have to have changed recently?
I hear what you are saying, but how do you explain the following post? I'm seeing more and more of these recently and had never heard of it happening prior to the last 3 to 4 weeks.
He only played once about a year ago and apparently had never received any e-mails about his WoW account up till about 3 weeks ago. I can't say for certain, but this appears to be a valid e-mail from Blizzard notifying him that his password has been changed. That is not typically what has happened in the passed. A password change on an account that's been inactive for over a year? In the passed most account compromises were on ACTIVE accounts, in fact I had NEVER heard of an inactive account being compromised prior to the last couple of weeks.
That's different in my humble opinion. And yes it could be explained that they have had his account info for over a year and just now getting around to his account, but does that sound any more plausible then what I'm suggesting? It doesn't to me. Not a bit more plausible and in fact I think it's a lot more inplausible. He only played for a few hours and was somehow keylogged in that short period of time and then the information used a year later. C'mon, surely you see this is as absurd as anything that I have suggested if not more and this has only started happening in the last month or so.
I see a new pattern in recent events. That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
All we know from that account is the user got an email. No where did they say they actually checked the account to see if it was indeed hacked. For sake of discussion lets assume it is real.
How could an inactive account get hacked? There are to many ways to list. Maybe their email account was hacked. Maybe they thought the phishing email was real and clicked it. Maybe they used their email address and wow password on some gold sites. Maybe the is more information to the story that isn't being presented as end users often do. If you worked in tech support you know what I mean
There has been a pretty big increase in phishing emails going out. I guess I am not surprised there are more accounts getting hacked and don't really need to look to far for a reason as to why.
As for inactive accounts, hacking inactive accounts has been going on for a while. Why steal an active account that will only last for 1-2 days, when you can reactivate an inactive account and get 30 days of farming? There are even cases of server transfers and account transfers.
I asked the Blizzard rep why my account was hacked so long after I stopped playing. His response: "They (gold farmers) have taken to the strategy of hacking accounts and waiting till they have been inactive for some time to lessen the chances of them being discovered and shut down".
Comments
I haven't played in awhile, but I noticed after I merged into a battle.net account I constantly get spam emails saying that my account has been suspended for unusual activity, and possible compromise, blah blah blah. I don't plan on ever playing wow again, so it's no big deal. Just I hate logging into my email now and seeing my junk folder with 500+ emails a day rofl
I hate to admit it but i d/l'ed the WoW trial in a moment of weakness about a year ago. Played for a few hours, got bored and uninstalled it. Then a couple of weeks ago i get an email saying...
Greetings!
This is an automated notification regarding the recent change(s)
made to your World of Warcraft account. Your password has recently been modified through the Password Recovery website.
*** If you made this password change, please disregard this notification. However, if you did NOT make changes to your password
we recommend you Login verify your password:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com
If you are unable to successfully verify your password .
using the automated system, please contact Billing & Account Services at 1-800-59-BLIZZARD (1-800-592-5499) Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm Pacific Time or at billing@blizzard.com. Account security is solely the responsibility of the account holder. Please be advised that in the event of a compromised account, Blizzard representatives typically must lock the account. In these cases the Account Administration team will require faxed receipt of ID materials before releasing the account for play.
Regards,
The World of Warcraft Support Team Blizzard Entertainment
I could care less but i have no idea how they hacked into it since i forgot the account even existed lol.
One word. Authenticator. I've yet to hear of anyone losing a legitimate account thats been locked down by one.
www.wowwiki.com/Blizzard_Authenticator
A friend of mine recently got hacked when he went to wowarmory.com. It was a redirected site (I believe) and asked him for his username/pass before it directed him to the armory site (wowarmory DOES NOT require you to do this). It was very late-night/early morning so he may have had a misspelling in the url. Apparently, Blizzard's been hit by a slew of these sites and it took him about 19 days to get all of his stuff back. They were nice enough to give his 80's 10 frost emblems for his lost time, but the hassle was enormous
A witty saying proves nothing.
-Voltaire
While i dont believe that Blizzard have themselves been hacked, i do think however that Blizzard are in part responsible for the amount of hacks that are occuring, the weakness being that they are forcing people to use their email addresses as login names. I really dont know on what basis they thought this could possibly be a good idea, far too few players of WoW have any real computer skills - including compsec, so while its all well and good for the tech savvy players to take this all in their stride, it was always going to be the case that the less informed would be exposed to a heightened level of risk, it really was nothing less than throwing them to the wolves. Whatever benefits may have been gained by converting accounts to Battlenet ones, was entirely at the expense of the customers, to be honest, i wouldnt wonder if at some point in the near future, Blizzard are called to account for this.
By whom? Government? Both state and federal are even more clueless than the typical person when it comes to legitimate computer security(as opposed to security theater). I totally agree that using emails as log on is not a bright idea. But authenticators ARE available, and everyone should get one and lock down their account.
By whom? Government? Both state and federal are even more clueless than the typical person when it comes to legitimate computer security(as opposed to security theater). I totally agree that using emails as log on is not a bright idea. But authenticators ARE available, and everyone should get one and lock down their account.
Authenticators are available, but not to everyone. people without CC's for instance might find that they are not available for purchase by other means. And if the only way of making the accounts secure is to have one, then shouldnt Blizzard be providing them for all their customers?
By whom? Government? Both state and federal are even more clueless than the typical person when it comes to legitimate computer security(as opposed to security theater). I totally agree that using emails as log on is not a bright idea. But authenticators ARE available, and everyone should get one and lock down their account.
Authenticators are available, but not to everyone. people without CC's for instance might find that they are not available for purchase by other means. And if the only way of making the accounts secure is to have one, then shouldnt Blizzard be providing them for all their customers?
I'd say that what be a good next step. I'd not say that they are the only means, but they may well be one of the most practical.
That is a phishing email. The sender hopes that you will click on a link that will take you to what looks like the wow website and hope you enter your account information there.
Your account is most likely untouched.
So Blizz forces people to join Bnet....they have to use their email addy to do so....which may be the reason for phishing emails or worse.....accounts are stolen......Blizz will help protect you by selling you an authenticator .......is this what is happening here?
No that is not what is happening.
Account hacking was a major problem before the battlenet changes.
Authenticators were available long before the battlenet changes.
The "reason" for phishing scams is because people are not educated about security and it is profitable and easy for hackers.
You are trying to twist years of account hacking problems as if it is somehow caused by a recent change.
No that is not what is happening.
Account hacking was a major problem before the battlenet changes.
Authenticators were available long before the battlenet changes.
The "reason" for phishing scams is because people are not educated about security and it is profitable and easy for hackers.
You are trying to twist years of account hacking problems as if it is somehow caused by a recent change.
Calm down sheriff Im not trying to twist anything. My reason for asking this was because I quit your "gem of a game" long before it became mandatory to join Bnet to continue paying my monthly fee and have received phishing emails as well. And I would add that they are coming more frequently now even though it is denied by some.
No that is not what is happening.
Account hacking was a major problem before the battlenet changes.
Authenticators were available long before the battlenet changes.
The "reason" for phishing scams is because people are not educated about security and it is profitable and easy for hackers.
You are trying to twist years of account hacking problems as if it is somehow caused by a recent change.
Calm down sheriff Im not trying to twist anything. My reason for asking this was because I quit your "gem of a game" long before it became mandatory to join Bnet to continue paying my monthly fee and have received phishing emails as well. And I would add that they are coming more frequently now even though it is denied by some.
I was just pointing out your flawed logic that is typically slanted to suit your agenda.
Much like people denying there are not more phishing scam emails now. Care to point those people out?
No that is not what is happening.
Account hacking was a major problem before the battlenet changes.
Authenticators were available long before the battlenet changes.
The "reason" for phishing scams is because people are not educated about security and it is profitable and easy for hackers.
You are trying to twist years of account hacking problems as if it is somehow caused by a recent change.
Calm down sheriff Im not trying to twist anything. My reason for asking this was because I quit your "gem of a game" long before it became mandatory to join Bnet to continue paying my monthly fee and have received phishing emails as well. And I would add that they are coming more frequently now even though it is denied by some.
I was just pointing out your flawed logic that is typically slanted to suit your agenda.
Much like people denying there are not more phishing scam emails now. Care to point those people out?
So when i say that i receive emails about my account security even though i didnt join Bnet my logic is flawed in thinking perhaps the problem goes deeper than Bnet? Sure I will point one out. Go back a few posts and you will find it is yourself who denied the upswing of reported hacks since Bnet became mandatory. But im sure that isnt what you meant at all is it?
I find it interesting how so many people with 5 posts only got their WoW accounts hacked and they did not do anything anything wrong. I work as a CSR so I know when people call to complain it is NEVER their fault. It is ALWAYS the company fault. People always do everything right and never make a mistake. Its ridiculous to even consider that a person with no technical PC knowledge is better protected from hackers then a multi-million corporation with a professional team guarding its data. No sir, not the people's faults. It must be the company - their bad security or even an insider job.
I am the type of player where I like to do everything and anything from time to time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - pre-WW2 genocide.
Well it just happened to me on my account. I canceled my subscription back in August. I got an email this morning from a friend asking me why I'm not saying hello to him in game. "I'm not playing" I replied. "You've been on 24 hours a day 7 days aweek for 5 days" he says.
I go to the Battlenet log in and change my password but then it requires some kind of "authenticator key" to access my account. I do a little research and realize I have been "locked out" of my own account by a device designed to add security (oh the irony).
I called Blizzard support (50 minutes on hold) and got a very helpful guy, who said "Yep...Chinese gold farmer". We went through the process of changing my password and removing the authenticator key.
I've always been skeptical of people claiming lost items due to hacking as it had never happened to me. I won't know what is left of my characters items (he had 50 mounts including the chopper) until I re-sub someday.
The customer service rep said I most likely got a key logger from one of the add-ons I got. I have also been downloading a lot of torchlight mods as of late and think that could possibly be the culprit as well.
Went and checked my email account I use for games and Ive received two today about two hours apart. One saying my WOW account may have been compromised the other saying my Bnet account password has been changed. Thing is, I dont have a Bnet account. Most of them go to my spam folder but now and then one will get into my inbox.
No that is not what is happening.
Account hacking was a major problem before the battlenet changes.
Authenticators were available long before the battlenet changes.
The "reason" for phishing scams is because people are not educated about security and it is profitable and easy for hackers.
You are trying to twist years of account hacking problems as if it is somehow caused by a recent change.
Calm down sheriff Im not trying to twist anything. My reason for asking this was because I quit your "gem of a game" long before it became mandatory to join Bnet to continue paying my monthly fee and have received phishing emails as well. And I would add that they are coming more frequently now even though it is denied by some.
I was just pointing out your flawed logic that is typically slanted to suit your agenda.
Much like people denying there are not more phishing scam emails now. Care to point those people out?
So when i say that i receive emails about my account security even though i didnt join Bnet my logic is flawed in thinking perhaps the problem goes deeper than Bnet? Sure I will point one out. Go back a few posts and you will find it is yourself who denied the upswing of reported hacks since Bnet became mandatory. But im sure that isnt what you meant at all is it?
Read the highlighted parts
Perhaps you don't pay attention to what is written or you are in to big a rush to make your point, but those are two different questions. You are again twisting things to produce your own answer.
Not that you even got the facts of what I said right, but at this point I am done explaining things to you.
I hear what you are saying, but how do you explain the following post? I'm seeing more and more of these recently and had never heard of it happening prior to the last 3 to 4 weeks.
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/3358784#3358784
He only played once about a year ago and apparently had never received any e-mails about his WoW account up till about 3 weeks ago. I can't say for certain, but this appears to be a valid e-mail from Blizzard notifying him that his password has been changed. That is not typically what has happened in the passed. A password change on an account that's been inactive for over a year? In the passed most account compromises were on ACTIVE accounts, in fact I had NEVER heard of an inactive account being compromised prior to the last couple of weeks.
That's different in my humble opinion. And yes it could be explained that they have had his account info for over a year and just now getting around to his account, but does that sound any more plausible then what I'm suggesting? It doesn't to me. Not a bit more plausible and in fact I think it's a lot more inplausible. He only played for a few hours and was somehow keylogged in that short period of time and then the information used a year later. C'mon, surely you see this is as absurd as anything that I have suggested if not more and this has only started happening in the last month or so.
I see a new pattern in recent events. That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
This is not necessarily true. WoW armory does indeed ask you for your username and password under certain circumstances like if you would like to look at the guild bank log. You have to be logged in to do that.
That is a phishing email. The sender hopes that you will click on a link that will take you to what looks like the wow website and hope you enter your account information there.
Your account is most likely untouched.
You don't know that for sure. Nothing in that e-mail suggests that it's bogus. I in fact recieved an identical e-mail from Blizzard when my account was hacked. No, I didn't click on the link, in fact there was no link in the e-mail, only a URL that could be typed in just like this one here. The first thing I did was ask my son to log into my account using my user-id and password because I was at work and couldn't do it and he said the password was wrong. My account WAS hacked.
You are making assumptions based on what you believe to be true that are not necessarily true.
That is a phishing email. The sender hopes that you will click on a link that will take you to what looks like the wow website and hope you enter your account information there.
Your account is most likely untouched.
You DON''T know that for sure. Nothing in that e-mail suggests that it's bogus. I in fact recieved an identical e-mail from Blizzard when my account was hacked. No, I didn't click on the link, in fact there was no link in the e-mail, only a URL that could be typed in just like this one here. The first thing I did was ask my son to log into my account using my user-id and password because I was at work and couldn't do it and he said the password was wrong. My account WAS hacked.
You are making assumptions based on what you believe to be true that are not necessarily true.
Good catch pappy. Looks like I didn't paste the edits about hovering over the links to see where they point to as a quick way of spotting phishing emails. It reads totally different otherwise. My mistake.
Well Wow shut down my account for "exploiting the economy" (gold selling/buying) and I haven't played since August.
Of course it was exploiting the economy..it was hacked by a gold farmer! The Blizz rep even said the IP of the person playing was Chinese!
I'm on hold now hoping to clear this up.
I hear what you are saying, but how do you explain the following post? I'm seeing more and more of these recently and had never heard of it happening prior to the last 3 to 4 weeks.
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/3358784#3358784
He only played once about a year ago and apparently had never received any e-mails about his WoW account up till about 3 weeks ago. I can't say for certain, but this appears to be a valid e-mail from Blizzard notifying him that his password has been changed. That is not typically what has happened in the passed. A password change on an account that's been inactive for over a year? In the passed most account compromises were on ACTIVE accounts, in fact I had NEVER heard of an inactive account being compromised prior to the last couple of weeks.
That's different in my humble opinion. And yes it could be explained that they have had his account info for over a year and just now getting around to his account, but does that sound any more plausible then what I'm suggesting? It doesn't to me. Not a bit more plausible and in fact I think it's a lot more inplausible. He only played for a few hours and was somehow keylogged in that short period of time and then the information used a year later. C'mon, surely you see this is as absurd as anything that I have suggested if not more and this has only started happening in the last month or so.
I see a new pattern in recent events. That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
All we know from that account is the user got an email. No where did they say they actually checked the account to see if it was indeed hacked. For sake of discussion lets assume it is real.
How could an inactive account get hacked? There are to many ways to list. Maybe their email account was hacked. Maybe they thought the phishing email was real and clicked it. Maybe they used their email address and wow password on some gold sites. Maybe the is more information to the story that isn't being presented as end users often do. If you worked in tech support you know what I mean
There has been a pretty big increase in phishing emails going out. I guess I am not surprised there are more accounts getting hacked and don't really need to look to far for a reason as to why.
As for inactive accounts, hacking inactive accounts has been going on for a while. Why steal an active account that will only last for 1-2 days, when you can reactivate an inactive account and get 30 days of farming? There are even cases of server transfers and account transfers.
I asked the Blizzard rep why my account was hacked so long after I stopped playing. His response: "They (gold farmers) have taken to the strategy of hacking accounts and waiting till they have been inactive for some time to lessen the chances of them being discovered and shut down".