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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsHelp! My account has been hacked!
by Robin Torres 
Jan 21st 2010 at 7:00PM
Important note: The following guide assumes that you have not put an Authenticator on your account. There are no confirmed cases of accounts being stolen if they are protected by an Authenticator.
Did the thieves put an Authenticator on your account?
If no, then follow these steps:
- Try to recover your password: Attempt to retrieve your password using Blizzard's password retrieval form. If they didn't change the email address registered to your account, you will receive the password in your email.
- Change your password: Immediately change your password to something you don't use anywhere else and is strong (not a word found in the dictionary, has numbers that are not related to any dates that are important to you). I would also recommend throwing in a capitalized letter or two, but Battle.Net passwords are not case sensitive. (Neither were non-Battle.Net WoW passwords, by the way, so this is not a change.)
- Post on the Technical Support forums: Go to the official Technical Support forums and find the latest blue post that has something about the Authenticator being added. As of this writing, the current one is at this link, but they get locked after a while and a new one is started. You don't have to enter an Authenticator code to post in the forums, so post from your compromised account in the thread that you need to have the Authenticator removed.
Even if you have posted on the tech support forums, I still recommend you contact Blizzard redundantly. Just make sure that you mention the other methods you have contacted them as a courtesy.
- Email: You can either email Blizzard directly at WoWAccountAdmin@Blizzard.com or by using their web form.
- Phone: Call the appropriate number for you from Blizzard's Support Number list. You may be put on hold for a while and/or be asked to leave a voicemail.
While you are spending time getting your account back, the thieves are pilfering the guildbank and sending your friends/guildies tells to go see this really cool video you made. Get on your guild forums and/or vent and tell your guildies to demote and ignore your characters until you get your account back.
Follow Blizzard's instructions.
Blizzard will contact you with instructions on how to restore your account. You may have to provide notarized documentation, which can be scanned and emailed or faxed. Follow the directions carefully, as any missing steps or information will result in even more of a delay.
Get an Authenticator.
You can either order the keyfob or download an app for your mobile which is cheap to free. If you do not have a mobile which is currently supported by Blizzard and are having trouble getting an Authenticator shipped to your location, then see if a friend, family member or guildie can get one and ship it to you. The device is the same globally and therefore can be activated on your account, even if it is bought by someone in the U.S. and mailed to you. But please do get an Authenticator so you never have to go through this again.
In before the "only stupid people get hacked" comments: very intelligent, prepared and careful people get hacked every day. As social engineers get more sophisticated, new security holes are opened up in our lives all the time. I don't normally do this when I write about Account Security, but any comments that are insulting will be deleted. If you really feel that strongly about how superior you are to someone who has been hacked, please go tell your mom. I'm sure she'll be very proud of you. But the rest of us are not interested.
Please remember that account safety and computer security is your responsibility! While WoW.com has provided you with resources to additional information, do your homework and make sure you know what you're doing before installing any antivirus or other software.Filed under: Blizzard, Account Security
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 7)
jfofla Jan 21st 2010 8:06PM
@ Gara
Just thought you should know your ignorance is showing.
Where did you even get such an idea?
Docp Jan 21st 2010 7:10PM
"Important note: The following guide assumes that you have not put an Authenticator on your account. There are no confirmed cases of accounts being stolen if they are protected by an Authenticator."
When Wow.com interviewed that scammer last year he mentioned that he could get past authenticators.
"That's sad. Do you have a way to get around the Authenticator?
Actually yes. For the very FIRST login, I can get around it. So I have to change the password then or make a quick clean sweep of the account.
Ah, how do you do it?
Just enter the Authenticator code they put into my site."
shkss Jan 21st 2010 7:12PM
Moral of the story: If someone tells you you've won a free mount, pet, etc. laugh in their face.
Robin Torres Jan 21st 2010 7:16PM
I debunked that in http://www.wow.com/2009/06/10/the-truth-about-authenticators/
Basically, the scammer would have to know to ask for the code AND get into manage account within around 30 seconds. Then he wouldn't be able to remove the authenticator, change any information or login to WoW with out typing in another code. Or he could log into WoW within 30 seconds, get his "business" done and not be able to login after exiting or get into your account management.
The scammer wasn't completely honest. How shocking!
Chris Anthony Jan 21st 2010 7:17PM
That's still not a verified account of someone with an authenticator getting hacked. If someone gives you their username, password, and Authenticator code, and if you then log in before the authenticator code expires (if memory serves, best-case scenario you have 30 seconds), then yes, you can log into the account of someone with an authenticator. But even if someone gives you their code, it's useless after it expires, and there's no way to determine the next code in the sequence from a single code.
Docp Jan 21st 2010 7:22PM
Ah, then I apologize. I just didn't want people to get over-confident in the safety of authenticators. Even if you have one it's still a good idea not to be silly with your information and internet security. If there's one thing to be said about scammer's it's that they have great cunning and persistence.
Bloomindraal Jan 21st 2010 7:54PM
Hmmmm if I was a hacker and my scams where being thwarted by authenticator's what would I do ? I would do an interview and lie about being able to get past them so at least some moron's think I'm telling the truth and dont buy one.
I myself had downloaded the authenticator program on my iPhone and subscribed to the theory that if something goes wrong with the app I wont be able to get into the game blah blah blah and I didn't activate.
Finally I came to my senses, did activate it and you know what - it has worked everytime !!
Arkkis Jan 21st 2010 7:10PM
Just had my account hacked today. Very annoying but Blizz did a good job restoring my account quickly. Nice to see a quick guide to getting your stuff back. Just need to get my items back now!
jack Jan 21st 2010 7:12PM
i know people with authenticators who have been hacked,
it may help but its not bullet proof
Robin Torres Jan 21st 2010 7:19PM
In all cases where people who OWN authenticators have been hacked, they had removed the authenticator from the account because it was inconvenient or they were temporarily sharing or something similar.
jfofla Jan 21st 2010 8:12PM
How do lies on the internet begin?
"I now people who"
PeeWee Jan 22nd 2010 5:47AM
jfofla:
If you hadn't already posted those very words, I would have. Your comment sir, is pure truth.
shkss Jan 21st 2010 7:11PM
"If you really feel that strongly about how superior you are to someone who has been hacked, please go tell your mom. I'm sure she'll be very proud of you. But the rest of us are not interested."
Thank you, Robin. My god, thank you. I hate those people. I'm willing to bet the majority of these people will be hacked at some point.
I was hacked, only a few weeks before authenticators were released I might add, and this is the best advice you will come across.
1 thing to add though. Scan your computer for malware as soon as possible. It's sometimes also worth using an online scanner in addition to your own. McAfee have one for instance.
Steven Santerre Jan 21st 2010 7:12PM
This happens to the best of people, and most diligent. I got hacked a little over a year ago. I have no idea(of course) how it happened. But it did. This was when I was just becoming an enlightened WoW player, and I was checking out all sorts of different guides, and I believe one of the "guides" downloaded a keylogger in the background.
Anyways, the best thing to do is order an authenticator. If you don't/can't...only visit sites you know. And some anti-virus programs don't pick them up. I had Norton at the time, all up to date. It didn't pick anything up, so i thought by clearing my internet history/cache/temp files I had cleared my system. Well, about 2 hours after I logged in once I got my account back, I get booted from the server. I had been hacked again. Fortunately i was able to get my password reset, and this time I ran norton and AD-Aware. Ad-Aware was the one that found the trojan keylogger. So, I now run Avira Antivirus and Ad-Aware scans 2x a week, and only go to websites I trust, like wow.com.
It's easy to sit back and say,"L2INTERWEBZ, NUB." when it hasn't happened to you. It sucks.
Alanid Jan 21st 2010 7:20PM
It's always good to have 2 scanning programs since they scan on different levels, so one might not pick something up but the other will. And sometimes Norton can be just as bad as actually having a virus.
Felix_NZ Jan 21st 2010 7:36PM
L2INTERNETZ nub!
But seriously, some other things that should be taught much, much more often:
Personal Software Firewall - If you don't have your own Cisco Firewall/router - at the very very least, download one of these - I use Zonealarm, and it will give you a little pop-up if any unknown program starts trying to send you datas across the internet.
Secure Browser Software: I use Opera and Firefox with the Noscript addon installed. If you really, really must use IE, make sure you keep it up to date, and don't allow any old website to run scripts on your local machine.
On top of your anti-threat software and not entering your details anywhere of course.
Lissanna Jan 21st 2010 7:15PM
If an authenticator is put on your account by someone other than you, then you have to call Billing on the phone.
Robin Torres Jan 21st 2010 7:21PM
As I stated in my article, you can also post in the appropriate forum thread and they will have billing contact you.
Ozzard Jan 22nd 2010 3:11AM
Robin, you might want to edit the article to reflect this - at the moment, the implication is that you just post in the forum thread and... erm... magic happens. I suspect that's where some of the "But a scammer can get the authenticator removed just by posting in the forums" comments are coming from.
Alanid Jan 21st 2010 7:16PM
I had a scare the other day, none of MY characters would load on the armory yet it would load other peoples, scared the hell out of me, luckily it was just something up with the armory or my iphone connection, but as soon as I got home I downloaded the authenticator app and connected it. It's good to feel secure.