Filed under: Account Security

WoW Insider reported on this over the weekend, and Blizzard has now confirmed that there has been a security issue with the Mobile Auction House.

Blizzard Entertainment

There's been a recent increase in unauthorized World of Warcraft account-logins via our website and the World of Warcraft mobile armory app.

We're in the process of notifying any account holders who were not using an authenticator and whose account showed signs of unauthorized access (e.g., logging in from an unusual IP address). If you are among this group, you will receive an email describing how to reset your account.

As a result of these activities, access to the World of Warcraft auction house via the mobile app has been taken off-line temporarily. Upon request, our customer support team will restore in-game items and gold for any accounts impacted.

While no means of account security is guaranteed, every precaution you take to secure your computer and your account-including changing your password periodically-adds another defensive barrier. We strongly encourage everyone to take a few moments to read through the security tips available on our support website and follow the suggestions posted there.

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As we mentioned in the original article, a GM had recommended the addition of SMS Protect to further secure accounts, and using unique passwords for your battle.net account. Also, running virus scans, keylogger scans, and malware scans is an excellent practice.

Sure, we all like gold. But even the most gold hungry among us can see the problem with a bug that allowed players to accumulate trillions of in-game currency, which is exactly what happened with Diablo III's patch 1.0.8. As a result, the game's Auction House was taken down, and Blizzard is still debating what actions to take to correct the issue, but Lylirra posts on the official forums that roll backs won't be necessary.

Lylirra - Auction Houses Temporarily Offline -- Update

12:00 a.m. PDT: At this time (and after careful consideration), we've decided to not move forward with rolling back the servers. We feel that this is the best course of action given the nature of the dupe, how relatively few players used it, and the fact that its effects were fairly limited within the region. We've been able to successfully identify players who duplicated gold by using this specific bug, and are focusing on these accounts to make corrections. While this is a time-consuming and very detailed process, we believe it's the most appropriate choice given the circumstances. We know that some of you may disagree, but we feel that performing a full roll back would impact the community in an even greater way, as it would require significant downtime as well as revert the progress legitimate players have made since patch 1.0.8 was released this morning.

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I know it would be a pretty big blow to lose character levels or gear acquired legitimately, so if they can go after the actual accounts that used the exploit and remove just their duplicated gold, that seems like the best option to me.

Well, Blizzard would like to tell you. And they've done so via the medium of clever video. Whatever your troubles in game are, the game masters are the ones who deal with them. The video explains the options you have to get the help you need, both in game and out of game. Whether it's phone support, web live chat, or in-game tickets, this video not only explains your options but gives a walk through of the typical tasks a Game Master undertakes in a day. There's even details on the various automated processes players can take advantage of to resolve issues faster than waiting for a GM.

So if you're curious, go take a gander at what, exactly, GM's do for you.

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Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.

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If you're concerned about account security, there's a new feature Blizzard want you to know about. They've been reminding us all about this feature via the forums, and have posted this informative, if somewhat bizarre video to tell us all about it.

The new feature, introduced a few months back, is Battle.net SMS Protect. It's a free service, as long as your mobile phone service provider doesn't charge you to receive text messages, in which case text messages would be charged at the usual rate. SMS Protect cannot use any type of messaging other than text messaging, and doesn't require a smartphone to work -- all your phone needs is the ability to receive SMS text messages, making this a nice feature for those players who don't have smartphones.

There have been mixed reports on whether it works with prepaid mobile phones, but where it hasn't been working that's usually because carriers don't allow the receipt of SMS text messages.

SMS Protect is not designed to replace the authenticator, either the phone authenticator or the physical authenticator. Rather, it is an alert system, designed to warn you about suspicious activity on your account, and allow you to perform certain actions with your phone. Hit the break for more information!

As an update to the security breach last week, players on North American realms will now be prompted to change their security question and answer when logging in to their Battle.net accounts. The security breach included no financial information; however, answers to personal security questions were compromised, as well as some information related to Mobile Authenticators.

In addition to the security question update, players may now also update their Mobile Authenticators as well. Please note, this is only in regards to North American accounts; players in Europe need to do neither of these things. And remember, if you are a North American player and have not changed the password on your account, doing so is an excellent idea.

Nethaera

As a precaution following our recent security update, players on North American servers please take a moment to visit Battle.net account management, where you will be prompted to change your security question as well as update your Mobile Authenticator. There you'll also find helpful tips and an FAQ, as well as instructions on how to add additional layers of security to your account, including the Battle.net Authenticator or the Mobile Authenticator for those that aren't already using one.

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