An Authenticator in your Visa

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

5-28-2009 @ 1:51AM

theRaptor said...

Except the Blizz authenticator does nothing against ID theft, even for your WoW account. It is an access control mechanism like a password, except it is a one time password so if your communications link is compromised an attacker can't get permanent control over the account (not that an attacker couldn't write a keylogger that grabbed your auth code and prevent you from logging in and then send the code to the attacker, it is just a much more difficult attack).

Most ID theft involves attackers opening fraudulent credit card and banking accounts. Theft of credit card details is not ID theft. If an attacker uses ID theft against you it is trivial for them to reset your WoW email address, password, and even authenticator status.

And America is a technological backwater when it comes to consumer deployment of this technology. Don't assume that because American banks don't worry about losing other peoples money that other countries don't have these systems in place.

Add your comments

Your comments:

Remember me

E-Mail me when someone replies to this comment

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.