Azerothian Addict Special Addition

[Sophina]

Welcome Readers to a special security edition of the Azerothian Addict!

This months episode is brought to you by: Anti-Virus - not always as safe as you think!

The Story Behind this Edition

Hello Friends, I thought I would vent the way I always have within game by posting on the Nightfall forums. Can not believe it has been over a year since I was here and to me that is scary and yet I have time to think about the past and all my time that I enjoyed at Nightfall.

Enough of the trip down memory lane, I want you to know why this special post. Well, Saturday just after my ICC25man pug I logged out to level my hunter and was disconnected from the server. Ok, that happens sometimes...I'll forgive it.

However, I couldn't log back on.

Obviously I must be having a blonde moment....no...no...second time didn’t work either...

Luckily at the time I was on the phone with, and you may remember him, Mr DKSmarty(Pants). He asked me why I hadn’t replied to his message in game.....sh.... it....

Being that I was online when it happened, I immediately went to the wow-europe website and reset the password. Gained access to my account and sent a ticket to Blizz saying my account was compromised what should I do?

Before they did any damage...phew...no response from Blizz, but by Wednesday I was locked out of my account and toons all stripped.

Now, I always have anti-virus up to date, WPA2 encrypted on my wifi, anti everything that looks spooky and goes bump in the night, with up-to-date firewall and defender with rules that shout alarm bells and jump up and down looking very menacing to anything that doesn’t look safe!

That being said…some..smelly…*insert a few expletives here*…bugger has stolen my account. Unfortunately for me, since the first time who ever it was had learnt that s/he had also attached an authenticator to it. This made it impossible for me to regain access to my account without the authenticator code!

I have been very lucky with the people I have met on WoW and 99% of those that I love on WoW I met in Nightfall and trust me, authenticator is on its way! (*KISS* to Mr SmartyPants) and I dont want you guys to suffer my very stressful fate!

How can I tell if my account has been compromised?

Unfortunately, it isn’t always as cut and dry as my case! Sometimes accounts are compromised and it is extremely hard to notice for some time. So Blizz has given these ideas to keep an eye out for:

• Your character is not in the same place as when you logged out
• Some of your items are missing
• Your password is incorrect
• There are new people on your friend list
• Some of your characters are missing, or there are new characters
• The last login on the Account Management does not match when you last logged on
• You have received an e-mail from the Game Masters with a warning for something that happened when you were not online
• Your guildmembers say that they have seen your character online when you have not been playing.

These might seem a bit obvious, but always nice to have a reference list. Of things to look out for.

For more information: Visit here

Blizz Do’s and Don’ts

Don'ts!

• Don’t share your account with anyone
• Never give your password to a Blizzard employee (they will never ask for it)
• Don't enter your account name and password on websites other than official blizzard websites even if they offer free gold or playtime
• Don’t trade your account for another – the other person is probably trying to steal your account
• Don’t use power leveling / honor farming services
• Don't buy an account from an online auction
• Don't Use UI modifications which use an .exe file

Do's

• Use regularly updated anti-virus software and a firewall to prevent scanning or theft of your personal data
• Change your password regularly
• Keep your account information safe
• Contact our support teams as soon as you think that your account may have been compromised
• Use different passwords for your account and your guild forum service or another player
• Use the Blizzard launcher as it scans your computer for some known trojans and other viruses which may steal your password
• Keep your account information (such as email address) updated so that we can contact you if there is a problem with your account

Blizz Recomendations

I could type them all out, however, I imagine Blizz keeps this list up to date: http://eu.blizzard.com/support/index...n_gb&gameId=11

Who to Contact

What I found most annoying is that account security is only available via a web form and not on the phone. I contacted accounts and billing that were able to reset security questions etc and escalate the ticket as much as possible to get my stuff back. So here is the list of tel numbers

And Finally
At least this story has some good news. My account is now back to 90% of what it was, and from what is missing...it is like there has been a spring clean . However, I am still a little worried. Vista has now gone. Win 7 installed and WoW fresh install is dling and installing as I type when I am 100% sure that I am sorted, all passwords will change again. I am even contemplating an email address change so that they dont have my account username :/

What worries me more is that there is no evidence of anything suspicious on any machine I have used! :S

I wish you luck my friends and good times! and remember sometimes its just better to be able to react quickly to these things and try to keep calm, I know those that have helped me through the last few days of grumpy-hacked-cant-play-wow-itis have been superstars *hugs*

Till next time Have Fun in Azeroth, and if possible screenie it, or it didnt happen.

[dkvoltron]

[Exinas]

awww its so many that i know that have be hacked now, its terrible

Thank you for posting all this things how to do when get hacked, and im glad its getting solved whit your account

Hugs Exi

[Everhard]

Bookmarked!!

[Lux]

Thanks for the info Soph - sorry you had to write it

The part about changing e-mail account is very good. Half your security is the username, which as few as possible should know.

If you can attach an alias to your e-mail account. Do so, and use it only for WoW. Also tick the "Remember Account Name" checkbox - if there are no other users of the pc that is. That way, a keylogger will get your password - but not your accountname.

Again - nothing is foolproof - but every little thing counts.