Originally posted by GruugI played Diablo 3 for a time. Looked at my Blizzard account once and said my WoW account had been banned. Problem is, I have never played WoW. Activision Blizzard has one of the worst track records of having accounts compromised. I have chosen to stay away from them for good.
Because, like Microsoft products, it's the biggest target due to how many play the game.
There is no way to 100% secure your account...in any game, anywhere. The end-user has to be as pro-active as the publisher.
If you know Blizzard can, and does close accounts if you login with a different IP, make sure to call them up and let them know you sign in with more than 1 computer, so they can put a notice in your account that computer A is home and computer B is at work or wherever. Then you can login in peace.
From my experience they're pretty fast on correcting issues. When I had an authenticator fail, before I even called to delink it for a new one, they already investigated if it was a hack attempt...in less than 15mins from fail to call.
I don't really think they monitor it as closely as they used to. Back in the day, simply logging in from a new computer would sometimes cause them to hard lock the account and make you send in your ID, which by the way the purpose is to compare it to the name on file, not to compare it to a picture. Nowadays, I've let a friend in England play my WoW account and the worst that happens is a soft lock which I can undo myself through the webpage. I think they are less strict on account sharing/selling/trading now because of the steady decline in users.
To recover your account, submit a ticket with your current form of identification. Accepted ID type(s):
Driver's License Military / State / Government Employee ID Passport Certificate of Birth/Adoption (Minors Only)
That's still an extreme situation, especially "forgetting" account details.
As the video above shows people can impersonate a player simply by knowing their RL name (which is why streamers run a serious account compromise risk). Not only did he have to send in a PhotoID to be put on file, he had other measures in place to recover his account again must easier.
As more and more players stream, that issue will become much like being carded at the local bar. No one likes it, but 15 year-olds puking on the dance floor doesn't help anyone, either.
OmaliMMO Business CorrespondentMemberUncommonPosts: 1,177
Originally posted by Gruug
I played Diablo 3 for a time. Looked at my Blizzard account once and said my WoW account had been banned. Problem is, I have never played WoW. Activision Blizzard has one of the worst track records of having accounts compromised. I have chosen to stay away from them for good.
The most played MMO has more problems with users losing their accounts? You don't say. The problem that virtually every business is facing is that hackers are getting more ambitious with their attacks, stealing everything from game accounts to credit cards, to the point where the user can only do so much and still not guarantee their safety.
If employees are responsible for a majority of theft in retail, it would be insane to assume that game devs don't have bad employees looking to subsidize their paychecks, especially if the customer support is outsourced. Blizzard has an internal affairs division to investigate these employees, and I believe there used to be a way to contact them to forward suspicious emails or reports, but I can't find it at the moment.
I played Diablo 3 for a time. Looked at my Blizzard account once and said my WoW account had been banned. Problem is, I have never played WoW. Activision Blizzard has one of the worst track records of having accounts compromised. I have chosen to stay away from them for good.
The most played MMO has more problems with users losing their accounts? You don't say. The problem that virtually every business is facing is that hackers are getting more ambitious with their attacks, stealing everything from game accounts to credit cards, to the point where the user can only do so much and still not guarantee their safety.
If employees are responsible for a majority of theft in retail, it would be insane to assume that game devs don't have bad employees looking to subsidize their paychecks, especially if the customer support is outsourced. Blizzard has an internal affairs division to investigate these employees, and I believe there used to be a way to contact them to forward suspicious emails or reports, but I can't find it at the moment.
Ah, if they're foolish enough to face Blizzard's legal team on corporate theft and more. Criminals are greedy and can be foolish at times, but being that stupid they would've been rewarded a Darwin award before being employed. Seriously Blizzard is IP crazy, they guard their ship like a pack of starved pit bulls. Just look at the reasoning why they sued (and won) against Glider.
It's not that criminals can't ply their trade there, it's just a waste. Easier targets out there with bigger profit margins than some 15 year-old sharing accounts.
Asking photo IDs is not really that suspicious: After all, in most of the countries around the world it's still the only official way to determine one's identity.
I live in a country where you need a photo ID for proving that you're over 18 when you buy beer. Australia probably has some other means for proving your identity besides using your ID since you're so hesitant to show your ID to private businesses?
Well if you have no problem sending your photo ID over the net to some complete stranger....then feel free to send me your Credit Card and bank number so I can verify them...I'm trustworthy.
Seriously tho, most countries, yes you need ID for most everything. But to send it online...as someone else stated...is giving permission to copy and give out your ID. Your ID is not like a Credit Card that can be easily monitored where or when it was used. Called ID theft and it's pretty hard to trace.
All they would have to do is send it by fax. Believe it or not business still have them as they are perfect for this sort of thing.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
You're being extremely paranoid. Blizzard and the NSA aren't building a dossier on you as a suspected terrorist. I suspect the request was automated or there was a misunderstanding, which seems to have been resolved.
In certain circumstances, Blizzard asks for photo ID to verify your account. They've been doing this for years. About three or four years ago, I traveled to my parents house and tried to log in to WoW and had my account locked due to suspicious activity. I called support and it took the customer support agent less than 10 minutes to resolve the issue.
Facebook tried this on me a few years ago. I had a disabled account that I thought about setting back up, but after being told I needed to provide a photo id, I abandoned that idea.
I can say with certainty that if this were to happen to me with Blizzard, I'd do the same thing. With so many cases of security breaches and identity theft floating around these days, the last thing I want to do is send photos of my driver's license or passport over email.
You're being extremely paranoid. Blizzard and the NSA aren't building a dossier on you as a suspected terrorist. I suspect the request was automated or there was a misunderstanding, which seems to have been resolved.
In certain circumstances, Blizzard asks for photo ID to verify your account. They've been doing this for years. About three or four years ago, I traveled to my parents house and tried to log in to WoW and had my account locked due to suspicious activity. I called support and it took the customer support agent less than 10 minutes to resolve the issue.
It's not about being a suspected terrorist. It's about knowing a photo of your id is sitting on a server somewhere waiting to get hacked. When was the last time a year went by without some major retailer or company suffering a security breach resulting in things like CC info and personal data being stolen?
You're being extremely paranoid. Blizzard and the NSA aren't building a dossier on you as a suspected terrorist. I suspect the request was automated or there was a misunderstanding, which seems to have been resolved.
In certain circumstances, Blizzard asks for photo ID to verify your account. They've been doing this for years. About three or four years ago, I traveled to my parents house and tried to log in to WoW and had my account locked due to suspicious activity. I called support and it took the customer support agent less than 10 minutes to resolve the issue.
It's not about being a suspected terrorist. It's about knowing a photo of your id is sitting on a server somewhere waiting to get hacked. When was the last time a year went by without some major retailer or company suffering a security breach resulting in things like CC info and personal data being stolen?
That you're online and you're scared that Blizzard has your photo of your ID? -_-
Believe me your personal info is on the internet already, it's just matching it with you that is needed.
Any online commerce you have done, also leaves a footprint.
So it makes no difference if Blizzard has it or not...someone already does (especially with the 2 biggest dataminers out there -- Google and Facebook -- who doesn't care what they do with it).
You're being extremely paranoid. Blizzard and the NSA aren't building a dossier on you as a suspected terrorist. I suspect the request was automated or there was a misunderstanding, which seems to have been resolved.
In certain circumstances, Blizzard asks for photo ID to verify your account. They've been doing this for years. About three or four years ago, I traveled to my parents house and tried to log in to WoW and had my account locked due to suspicious activity. I called support and it took the customer support agent less than 10 minutes to resolve the issue.
It's not about being a suspected terrorist. It's about knowing a photo of your id is sitting on a server somewhere waiting to get hacked. When was the last time a year went by without some major retailer or company suffering a security breach resulting in things like CC info and personal data being stolen?
That you're online and you're scared that Blizzard has your photo of your ID? -_-
Believe me your personal info is on the internet already, it's just matching it with you that is needed.
Any online commerce you have done, also leaves a footprint.
So it makes no difference if Blizzard has it or not...someone already does (especially with the 2 biggest dataminers out there -- Google and Facebook -- who doesn't care what they do with it).
It is the information age, after all.
Why don't you PM me your personal information. I won't share it with anyone. It's already out there, after all.
You're being extremely paranoid. Blizzard and the NSA aren't building a dossier on you as a suspected terrorist. I suspect the request was automated or there was a misunderstanding, which seems to have been resolved.
In certain circumstances, Blizzard asks for photo ID to verify your account. They've been doing this for years. About three or four years ago, I traveled to my parents house and tried to log in to WoW and had my account locked due to suspicious activity. I called support and it took the customer support agent less than 10 minutes to resolve the issue.
It's not about being a suspected terrorist. It's about knowing a photo of your id is sitting on a server somewhere waiting to get hacked. When was the last time a year went by without some major retailer or company suffering a security breach resulting in things like CC info and personal data being stolen?
You're worried about your photo ID being online and yet you probably have no issues buying something with your credit card (like a video game) online. You can find out just about anything about anyone online with or without their photo ID if you're really inclined to do so.
It's not about being a suspected terrorist. It's about knowing a photo of your id is sitting on a server somewhere waiting to get hacked. When was the last time a year went by without some major retailer or company suffering a security breach resulting in things like CC info and personal data being stolen?
You're worried about your photo ID being online and yet you probably have no issues buying something with your credit card (like a video game) online. You can find out just about anything about anyone online with or without their photo ID if you're really inclined to do so.
Just because something is possible doesn't mean you should take steps to make it easier. You may as well apply your "logic" to drinking and driving, under the assumption that since you can get into an accident even when sober, why not just drive drunk?
I have been asked for a photo ID with Guild Wars 2 and Darkfall. I quit playing both and will never go back as long as an ID is required to fix problems. What does not make sense is that an ID isnt required to play but only to fix an issue. Darkfall was the strangest occurrence I have ever had with a company. I asked them to remove my credit card information from my account since there was no way to do it manually. They refused to delete the information unless I sent them a ton of information including a copy of a photo ID. I was like look dude, I am logged into the account right at this moment, hell I am in game, so why cant you delete my credit card info? The response, send us a copy of a photo ID, blah, blah.
I stopped playing WoW for awhile and came back for Wrath when I did my account had be hacked months ago I guess and someone had been playing it for that time. Might have been stolen and sold or something. Blizzard made me us a notary to verify who I was to return the account. It sucked and cost a little bit of money but I did get my account back. Funny is they don't roll back your account. So I got some leveled alts, gold and my main was in more current gear. Like in wrath it got hacked again and they must used a bot to harvest minerals all night then sold everything but blizzard returned my gear gold and tons of minerals to me that I never harvested.
It's not about being a suspected terrorist. It's about knowing a photo of your id is sitting on a server somewhere waiting to get hacked. When was the last time a year went by without some major retailer or company suffering a security breach resulting in things like CC info and personal data being stolen?
You're worried about your photo ID being online and yet you probably have no issues buying something with your credit card (like a video game) online. You can find out just about anything about anyone online with or without their photo ID if you're really inclined to do so.
Just because something is possible doesn't mean you should take steps to make it easier. You may as well apply your "logic" to drinking and driving, under the assumption that since you can get into an accident even when sober, why not just drive drunk?
The answer should be pretty obvious.
It's not like you're posting your ID on a random website for everyone to see. You're giving it to a company who has it in their interest to do their best to protect your personal information. You subscribe to a game and give them more than enough information that a person with that information could cause you serious trouble, but that's okay because it is. Giving a company your photo ID though? Man, that's just nuts. Yes, people should do what they can to reduce security risks, but being so paranoid over a company asking for your photo ID for verification seems a bit dumb to me.
It was a breach that was hit or miss. They noticed an intrusion, but no personal account information was breached. So it shows the account information is stored elsewhere (not on your computer as a token), as it should be. The PSN break in didn't have even that layer of security, everything got compromised.
But crying wolf about the photo ID as a scare tactic, personally is quite ironic, since if the hackers want that info they will get it without uploading the photo ID anyway. Just takes patience.
Furthermore, if a person isn't so interested in getting their account back, is a red flag to me, too. Have a few level 90s in gear and simply walk away due to verification questions designed to protect accounts...yeah, major red flags.
My wife tried to log in to her account from her friends computer and the Blizzard alarms went off and "Locked" her account.
So we didn't think it was that big a deal, after all, it was a iMac her friend has, hehe. But when we created a ticket with customer support, they insisted that a copy of "photo ID" be included in a text file along with all of her information regarding the WOW account including her secret answer, to a question she never chose.
An instant red flag went up my spine and so I wrote back to the support rep asking, "Why they needed photo ID, when they have nothing to compare it to? And that she won't be providing photo ID, due to the fact that it contains far more information than a simple name and address and DOB. Which could be used to steal someone's identity and destroy their lives."
So I just sent what I would normally send, like name address and DOB, plus server, character names, guild etc.
We didn't receive a reply for 4 days, so I wrote a new ticket asking about the first ticket, but added, " I really can't see why you would request documentation that is national and international, (because Passport, was one of their prerequisites) and can be used to do so much damage to someone's life. I thought it was a breach of privacy, because although Blizzard are a huge company and God forbid they would do anything untoward with the information, but they are a private company and I simply don't feel safe giving them that info. The only reason I could think of that they would be able to verify someone's photo ID, was by breaching that persons privacy yet again, by using a social network, like Facebook."
Needless to say, I got a reply very fast, but the support rep was in damage control mode. The support emails were addressed as "no-reply+ and he said that they hadn't received the text files, but that he had sent a instant password reset link, which I used, and bingo, her account was unlocked.
The kicker is, He said he never received any information about her account...!!! So why the instant access...???
Hmmmm.
Helltrager.
Talk to your credit card issuer and see how they would advise you on this. Blizzard has to play by their rules and they might have special rules for this. I had a situation with a card one time and the bank did a great job on it and fixed the issue. Needless to say, I stopped doing business with a certain company. You really have to protect yourself from people looking to scam your information.
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
You're being extremely paranoid. Blizzard and the NSA aren't building a dossier on you as a suspected terrorist. I suspect the request was automated or there was a misunderstanding, which seems to have been resolved.
In certain circumstances, Blizzard asks for photo ID to verify your account. They've been doing this for years. About three or four years ago, I traveled to my parents house and tried to log in to WoW and had my account locked due to suspicious activity. I called support and it took the customer support agent less than 10 minutes to resolve the issue.
It's not about being a suspected terrorist. It's about knowing a photo of your id is sitting on a server somewhere waiting to get hacked. When was the last time a year went by without some major retailer or company suffering a security breach resulting in things like CC info and personal data being stolen?
That you're online and you're scared that Blizzard has your photo of your ID? -_-
Believe me your personal info is on the internet already, it's just matching it with you that is needed.
Any online commerce you have done, also leaves a footprint.
So it makes no difference if Blizzard has it or not...someone already does (especially with the 2 biggest dataminers out there -- Google and Facebook -- who doesn't care what they do with it).
It is the information age, after all.
Why don't you PM me your personal information. I won't share it with anyone. It's already out there, after all.
Why would I need to PM you? If I was going to share it, it would be publicly, because PMing you details is essentially that anyway.
I kind of find it hillarious, that someone would be bothered about Photo ID, and what Blizzard might do to help secure their account through using it, when they in all probability, have a facebook account with all this and more online already, totally awesome, but of course Blizzard is the Devil and Facebook is exempt from anything that might imply they are up to no good with your personal details, and photo collection, and friends lists, and contact details, email addresses, and if you play a few apps there, probably what you like to do online in the first place, nope, Blizzard are obviously up to no good!
Comments
Because, like Microsoft products, it's the biggest target due to how many play the game.
There is no way to 100% secure your account...in any game, anywhere. The end-user has to be as pro-active as the publisher.
If you know Blizzard can, and does close accounts if you login with a different IP, make sure to call them up and let them know you sign in with more than 1 computer, so they can put a notice in your account that computer A is home and computer B is at work or wherever. Then you can login in peace.
From my experience they're pretty fast on correcting issues. When I had an authenticator fail, before I even called to delink it for a new one, they already investigated if it was a hack attempt...in less than 15mins from fail to call.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
That's still an extreme situation, especially "forgetting" account details.
As the video above shows people can impersonate a player simply by knowing their RL name (which is why streamers run a serious account compromise risk). Not only did he have to send in a PhotoID to be put on file, he had other measures in place to recover his account again must easier.
As more and more players stream, that issue will become much like being carded at the local bar. No one likes it, but 15 year-olds puking on the dance floor doesn't help anyone, either.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
SOE and Turbine dont require photo IDs
i only had to verify past Credit Card #s I used for acct recovery
EQ2 fan sites
The most played MMO has more problems with users losing their accounts? You don't say. The problem that virtually every business is facing is that hackers are getting more ambitious with their attacks, stealing everything from game accounts to credit cards, to the point where the user can only do so much and still not guarantee their safety.
If employees are responsible for a majority of theft in retail, it would be insane to assume that game devs don't have bad employees looking to subsidize their paychecks, especially if the customer support is outsourced. Blizzard has an internal affairs division to investigate these employees, and I believe there used to be a way to contact them to forward suspicious emails or reports, but I can't find it at the moment.
Ah, if they're foolish enough to face Blizzard's legal team on corporate theft and more. Criminals are greedy and can be foolish at times, but being that stupid they would've been rewarded a Darwin award before being employed. Seriously Blizzard is IP crazy, they guard their ship like a pack of starved pit bulls. Just look at the reasoning why they sued (and won) against Glider.
It's not that criminals can't ply their trade there, it's just a waste. Easier targets out there with bigger profit margins than some 15 year-old sharing accounts.
"Time is money, friend".
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
And SOE and Turbine have 1/10th of players, too...combined.
SOE, remember, also had that break in that compromised millions of accounts with the PSN and MMOs. Which (knock on wood) hasn't happen with Blizzard.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
All they would have to do is send it by fax. Believe it or not business still have them as they are perfect for this sort of thing.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
You're being extremely paranoid. Blizzard and the NSA aren't building a dossier on you as a suspected terrorist. I suspect the request was automated or there was a misunderstanding, which seems to have been resolved.
In certain circumstances, Blizzard asks for photo ID to verify your account. They've been doing this for years. About three or four years ago, I traveled to my parents house and tried to log in to WoW and had my account locked due to suspicious activity. I called support and it took the customer support agent less than 10 minutes to resolve the issue.
Facebook tried this on me a few years ago. I had a disabled account that I thought about setting back up, but after being told I needed to provide a photo id, I abandoned that idea.
I can say with certainty that if this were to happen to me with Blizzard, I'd do the same thing. With so many cases of security breaches and identity theft floating around these days, the last thing I want to do is send photos of my driver's license or passport over email.
You make me like charity
It's not about being a suspected terrorist. It's about knowing a photo of your id is sitting on a server somewhere waiting to get hacked. When was the last time a year went by without some major retailer or company suffering a security breach resulting in things like CC info and personal data being stolen?
You make me like charity
That you're online and you're scared that Blizzard has your photo of your ID? -_-
Believe me your personal info is on the internet already, it's just matching it with you that is needed.
Any online commerce you have done, also leaves a footprint.
So it makes no difference if Blizzard has it or not...someone already does (especially with the 2 biggest dataminers out there -- Google and Facebook -- who doesn't care what they do with it).
It is the information age, after all.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
Why don't you PM me your personal information. I won't share it with anyone. It's already out there, after all.
You make me like charity
Blizzard had a breach in 2012 - but it wasnt as bad
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2013/11/27/blizzard-entertainment-concludes-its-data-breach-investigation-fifteen-months-later/
EQ2 fan sites
You're worried about your photo ID being online and yet you probably have no issues buying something with your credit card (like a video game) online. You can find out just about anything about anyone online with or without their photo ID if you're really inclined to do so.
Just because something is possible doesn't mean you should take steps to make it easier. You may as well apply your "logic" to drinking and driving, under the assumption that since you can get into an accident even when sober, why not just drive drunk?
The answer should be pretty obvious.
You make me like charity
It's not like you're posting your ID on a random website for everyone to see. You're giving it to a company who has it in their interest to do their best to protect your personal information. You subscribe to a game and give them more than enough information that a person with that information could cause you serious trouble, but that's okay because it is. Giving a company your photo ID though? Man, that's just nuts. Yes, people should do what they can to reduce security risks, but being so paranoid over a company asking for your photo ID for verification seems a bit dumb to me.
It was a breach that was hit or miss. They noticed an intrusion, but no personal account information was breached. So it shows the account information is stored elsewhere (not on your computer as a token), as it should be. The PSN break in didn't have even that layer of security, everything got compromised.
But crying wolf about the photo ID as a scare tactic, personally is quite ironic, since if the hackers want that info they will get it without uploading the photo ID anyway. Just takes patience.
Furthermore, if a person isn't so interested in getting their account back, is a red flag to me, too. Have a few level 90s in gear and simply walk away due to verification questions designed to protect accounts...yeah, major red flags.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
Talk to your credit card issuer and see how they would advise you on this. Blizzard has to play by their rules and they might have special rules for this. I had a situation with a card one time and the bank did a great job on it and fixed the issue. Needless to say, I stopped doing business with a certain company. You really have to protect yourself from people looking to scam your information.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
the 2011 PSN breakin was to a separate database that was from 4 years ago in 2007
-- still royally sucked tho
https://www.soe.com/securityupdate/pressrelease.vm
information from an outdated database from 2007
EQ2 fan sites
Why would I need to PM you? If I was going to share it, it would be publicly, because PMing you details is essentially that anyway.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.