Forum Post of the Day: Avoiding keyloggers

Keyloggers have been plaguing the game for a while now, and have begun to embed links into forum posts in an increasingly sophisticated manner. For this reason Lythria on the European Forums has posted an excellent guide to spotting keyloggers and hopefully avoid them. The first thing he suggests is not clicking on a link from a site you don't recognize. There are plenty of sites out there that do safe image hosting for instance, like Photobucket or Image Shack. If the link is asking you to view an image, but you don't recognize the URL, he says pass.
The next suggestion he gives is to check up on the poster. Look at their posting history. Keyloggers will often post the same or similar content, and many time the same links. If you look at what else they have posted on the forums, you may get an idea if this is something you should follow up on or not. Also the spelling of links that look legit can be tweaked, with the letter o replaced by the number 0 to fool you. When in doubt, trust other poster's instincts. If someone has replied saying this might be a keylogger, don't be a hero! If the milk smells bad, you don't take a drink. Apply the same caution to links on the forums.
Honestly, this whole post should be mandatory reading for anyone who spends a good deal of the time on the WoW forums. Read through the suggestions, and then let us know if you have anything to add that might help your fellow players avoid the keylogging trap.
[via European WoW Forums]
The next suggestion he gives is to check up on the poster. Look at their posting history. Keyloggers will often post the same or similar content, and many time the same links. If you look at what else they have posted on the forums, you may get an idea if this is something you should follow up on or not. Also the spelling of links that look legit can be tweaked, with the letter o replaced by the number 0 to fool you. When in doubt, trust other poster's instincts. If someone has replied saying this might be a keylogger, don't be a hero! If the milk smells bad, you don't take a drink. Apply the same caution to links on the forums.
Honestly, this whole post should be mandatory reading for anyone who spends a good deal of the time on the WoW forums. Read through the suggestions, and then let us know if you have anything to add that might help your fellow players avoid the keylogging trap.
[via European WoW Forums]






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Charles Oct 23rd 2007 6:24PM
Tip # 3: Get a Mac!
Dan Oct 23rd 2007 6:41PM
@1: Because there are no keyloggers for the Mac? Of course there are, Kext- and application-level. Because there are no security flaws that allow arbitrary code execution?
http://www.4null4.de/110/severe-security-hole-in-apple-safari-browser/
I use a Mac myself. I run a cluster of XServes at work, and play WoW on a MacBook Pro at home. That's no reason to be complacent.
Gonzie Oct 23rd 2007 6:51PM
Firefox with NoScript increases to online security as well.
Paul Oct 23rd 2007 6:59PM
oh god, let's not start this again. let's please leave it at 2's answer and move on.
3 days ago, Avast anti-virus found a virus called something like JS: agent[jrl], or something along those lines on my vista machine for the first time ever. It was found in my firefox profiles folder! Whether that means it came from firefox for sure, i have no idea
I have no idea if it was a keylogger, but it scared me- i looked it up, and it appears to have come from clicking on a digg comment link that was supposedly a mirror to a digg referenced site.
I changed my passwords just in case, but i think i'm fine.
be careful where you click!
Paul Oct 23rd 2007 7:03PM
oh, and i was using noscript with firefox as well, so i'm really confused as to how i got it
Jack Oct 23rd 2007 9:45PM
Use Opera and a good antivirus program. Problem solved.
Gryzor Oct 24th 2007 1:44AM
Blizzard could easy solve this problem by having a dropdown letter menu system similar to online banking. Where you select the letters in sequence to make up your password. There is no actual key strokes involved so nothing can be logged.
bugmaster Oct 24th 2007 5:59AM
best way is to let ur wow remember your username and store your pw on a notepad file or something and just use copy and paste....
darian Oct 24th 2007 1:35PM
Unplug all your ethernet cords. They are carriers of t3h 3v1l!!!!111!!1!1