Posts with tag account-security

Opt-out option incoming for recent authenticator security change

by Michael Sacco Jul 26th 2011 at 8:00PM

If you follow WoW account security, then you've probably heard about (or personally encountered) a recent change to the way Battle.net authenticator devices work. Basically, when you log into the game, the client attempts to determine if you're logging in from your "home" computer or at least a computer you use regularly. It uses several factors to make this determination, such as your MAC address and your IP address. If the information doesn't indicate that the login is taking place from a safe machine, it'll prompt you for your authenticator code. If it is a safe computer, then you'll only be asked for your code randomly, once a week or so.

The change, aimed to make authenticators less of a hassle for those who log on from the same computer quite a bit, caused an odd uproar on the official forums from players who were worried that this change somehow made their account less secure. Addressing these concerns, Blizzard Community Manager Zarhym announced today that Blizzard is working on providing an opt-out option for this convenience feature.

Details were scarce since, as Zarhym noted, Blizzard hasn't quite nailed down specifics yet, but he assured players that it's something Blizzard's been looking into since the authenticator change was first announced.

The full announcement post and followups are after the break.

Filed under: News items, Account Security

Battle.net Mobile Authenticator now available for Windows 7 Phones

by Michael Sacco Jul 7th 2011 at 8:00PM

Android and iOS device users have had the luxury of using the Battle.net Mobile Authenticator, a software version of Blizzard's downright necessary keyfob authenticator, on their phones or tablets for a while now. As of today, Windows 7 Phone users can also take advantage of the Mobile Authenticator by downloading it from the Windows Phone Marketplace.

At this point, there's pretty much no reason not to have an authenticator -- they're 6 bucks and free to ship for a physical device and no cost at all for a software version available for every major mobile platform. Just get it!

Battle.net Mobile Authenticator for Windows® Phone 7 Devices

The Battle.net Mobile Authenticator, an application for mobile phones that provides an extra layer of account security, is now available as a free download for Windows® Phone 7 devices on the Windows Phone Marketplace. The Battle.net Mobile Authenticator provides a one-time password that you use in addition to your regular account name and password when you log in to a Battle.net account to play World of Warcraft or StarCraft II.

Versions for other mobile devices are also available for download here, or you can purchase a physical Battle.net Authenticator from the online Blizzard Store. Visit the Battle.net Mobile Authenticator FAQ for more information, or head to the setup page to get started after you've downloaded the application.

For additional account security advice, check out our Account Security page.

source

Battle.net authenticator process updated with smarter log-in detection

by Mathew McCurley Jun 16th 2011 at 7:00PM

A substantial updated to the Battle.net authentication system was announced today. Players will soon notice a change to their authenticator log on -- it just might not appear. Blizzard's login servers and authentication system now intelligently track where your account is logging into the game from and, if you're consistently logging in on your home computer, the authentication servers will let you pass, no code needed.

Blizzard wants make the authentication process less intrusive and this is a first step towards that goal. Right now, having to input a code each and every log in is a pain, sure, but it also makes me feel secure. I'm never going to say no to more security, however, and if the system is something that can accurately figure out where I am and let me on, that's great.

This doesn't take into consideration the circumstance where you use an authenticator to prevent access to WoW, even from the home PC. I know some parents who use a simple password that their kids can remember but use the authenticator as the gate to prevent unwanted play. Maybe there will be an opt-out feature of some kind to always ask for the code.

You can check out the Battle.net account security page or check out the Blizzard mobile site for application information. For more information on this specific change to the authenticator system, follow me after the break.

Filed under: Blizzard, Account Security

The Lawbringer: Account management and you

by Mathew McCurley May 20th 2011 at 9:00AM

Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Running parallel to the games we love and enjoy is a world full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play?

Writing The Lawbringer has taught me a lesson in trends. Over the past few months, specific questions are sent to me in topical batches. Sometimes it is a few emails about selling accounts. Other times, I get four to five emails about account security or compromise. May's email topic of choice was transferring accounts to family members.

Blizzard is very restrictive about what you can and cannot change regarding your account information. On the one hand, it is your account, right? Shouldn't you have ultimate control over the information you provide for the facilitation of a service you pay for? On the other hand, there is a certain degree of problem mitigation that comes with restrictive change. If Blizzard can control certain aspects of what you do with your account and the information it is all filed under, problems can get mitigated before they appear. Today's topic is really all about damage mitigation.

Filed under: The Lawbringer

First Core Hound Pup adoption campaign winners announced

by Mathew McCurley Apr 21st 2011 at 7:00PM

Blizzard's Core Hound Pup Adoption Campaign is giving players the chance to win an iPad as well as boost their own account security. In an effort to get more authenticators attached to accounts, Blizzard ponied up some iPads to get the job done. Each month, a screenshot entry is chosen to win one of 12 iPads. Just take a screenshot of you and your security pup companion doing something crazy, out of the ordinary, or just plain awesome, hit up the contest rules page, and you've got a shot at winning. The first four winners have just been announced and their screenshots released.

Gallery: Core Hound Pup Adoption Campaign Screenshot Winners

Filed under: Contests, Account Security, Cataclysm

RSA security hack not affecting Blizzard authenticators

by Mathew McCurley Mar 18th 2011 at 3:30PM

Many people were quick to wonder and worry about whether the recent hacking of the RSA (the security branch of EMC) had the potential of harming Blizzard's authenticators or authentication software. Fear not, as the blues have chimed in with a response:

RSA Hack and Blizzard Authenticators

Pokzin,

The Blizzard Authenticators are based off modified Vasco tokens. I'm sorry to hear about RSA's troubles, but it will not affect the Blizzard Authenticator.

source

It doesn't look like Blizzard will be harmed by this at all. As a reminder, please keep your account safe by not clicking links in emails that don't appear to be from Blizzard, always check your email headers for incoming email addresses, and if you have any questions about whether an email is legitimate, contact Blizzard first. And do please get an authenticator for your account. Check out some of our own security articles here.

Filed under: Blizzard, Account Security

Blizzard posts new account security guide

by Michael Sacco Feb 16th 2011 at 7:00PM

Make no mistake: it really sucks when your WoW account gets compromised. Even with the speed with which compromises are handled by the support department nowadays, it's still a pain to have to wait to get your stuff back -- and it's even worse to know that someone was in there mucking around with your dudes, you know? Blizzard's been better about helping people with account security problems recently, like giving out free authenticators to some hacked accounts and offering a free phone-in authenticator service, but in the end, a lot of the responsibility falls on you the player to keep your account secure.

To that end, Blizzard has assembled a new account security guide. It's a pretty comprehensive list of the steps you can take to secure your account, from getting an authenticator to learning how to recognize phishing emails to making sure that your computer itself is secured through the use of antivirus software. Learn it, live it, love it. In account security, as in Planeteering, the power is yours.

Filed under: News items, Account Security

Breakfast Topic: What made you decide to get an authenticator?

by Aiden James Kosciesza Feb 8th 2011 at 8:00AM

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

Once again, Blizzard is encouraging its players to use authenticators to protect their Battle.net accounts. In addition to the incentive of a lovable Core Hound Pup pet provided to all World of Warcraft characters on an account that has an authenticator attached, there is now a contest going on to win an iPad for your best Core Hound Pup screenshot, and we've even received reports that free authenticators are being offered to owners of accounts that have previously been compromised. Still, incentives alone aren't enough for some players. Sometimes it takes an incident to drive the point home.

For me, it was a hacking scare involving my girlfriend's account. We had just resubbed to WoW in preparation for Cataclysm and were having a blast when she got a notification from Blizzard that her account had been locked due to an unauthorized break-in. Nothing was gone, no items destroyed, no gibberish-named level 1s created, but she did have to change her password and verify to Blizzard that she was still herself. She was playing on a Mac, used Adblock and had disabled Flash on her browser, and she only visited a handful of websites on a daily basis, all very innocuous places like Gmail and WoW Insider. We figured it was an isolated incident, but just to make sure, she wiped her hard drive and reinstalled WoW. Then, a week later, it happened again. I couldn't believe it, and I still don't know how or why she was targeted, but I ordered our authenticators the very next day. We haven't had a problem since.

What convinced you to get an authenticator? Was it a contest, a promotion by Blizzard, or a hacking scare? If you don't have an authenticator yet, what's holding you back?

The Lawbringer: Account security and you

by Mathew McCurley Dec 3rd 2010 at 11:00AM

Filed under: The Lawbringer

Blizzard introduces Dial-in Authenticator

by Anne Stickney Nov 9th 2010 at 5:40PM

If you do not have an authenticator or mobile authenticator on your account, Blizzard has just introduced an alternative. The Dial-in Authenticator, now available for those without authenticators, is a new Battle.net feature that will hopefully help those players who don't have some sort of authenticator already on their account.

Here's how it works. When you sign up, you'll be asked to make a toll-free call from a specific phone of your choosing to authorize login attempts with the battle.net account. You get to assign the phone number that is used, and if there is something unusual about the login attempt on your account, you'll be asked to call the toll-free number to verify you are you. An example of unusual activity would be playing from a different location than you normally do. In other words, if a keylogger gets hold of your account information and attempts to log in, they'll be prompted to call the number -- and they won't be able to go any further, because they don't have your phone and they don't have your PIN. You will only be asked to call if it's an unusual login -- otherwise, you can continue to log in and play with no worries.

The Dial-in Authenticator is currently only open to U.S. residents, and it only covers World of Warcraft accounts -- although Blizzard may update it to cover more countries in the future, as well as StarCraft 2 accounts. In order to sign up for the Dial-in Authenticator, you must log into your account on Battle.net, then go to Security Options and choose to add the Dial-in Authenticator. If you already have an authenticator on your account, you must remove it in order to sign up for the dial-in service; you cannot use more than one security method at a time.

For more information on the service, check out the official FAQ on Blizzard's website.

Filed under: News items, Account Security

The Lawbringer: Real money transactions and some eBay history

by Mathew McCurley Oct 15th 2010 at 9:00PM

Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Running parallel to the games we love and enjoy is a world full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play?

eBay and massively multiplayer online role playing games have a deep, rich and occasionally sordid past. As social beings, we've been bartering, trading and selling our time and goods for the entirety of human history. The internet just made things even easier. Hell, buying some gold or an item off of eBay isn't the first time you've probably spent money for a work-around in a game. Ever heard of Game Genie? We paid money for that at one point in our lives.

This week, The Lawbringer delves into the past, remembering the good ol' days when the internet came in three varieties: 28.8k, 33.6k and 56k v.90. Also, 14.4k, but only losers had such weak baud. Please don't make me go back further in time. You're probably making modem sounds right now, pretending to go ksshhhh ksshhhh bee doo be dooo wha wha wha wha wha wha wha beeboobeeboobeebeeboobeep, so we should probably start this up.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Lawbringer

Battle.net authenticators limited to one account

by Gregg Reece Oct 7th 2010 at 8:00PM

Blizzard is changing up the security on their authenticators a bit. This isn't a major change and shouldn't affect that many people. Starting now, if you happen to have multiple Battle.net accounts (not multiple WoW accounts under one Battle.net account), then each account must have its own authenticator. This means if you have separate Battle.net logins for zergrush@somedomain.com and taurenfever@example.com and you want to use an authenticator, you'll need to buy two. If you've just got taurenfever@example.com and all of your games are under that Battle.net login, then you're perfectly fine.

This is not retroactive. If you already have two accounts linked to a single authenticator, everything will still work as it does right now until you unlink that authenticator. The full blue post detailing the changes is behind the cut below.

Filed under: News items, Account Security

Blizzard announces automated account recovery form for hacked accounts

by Mathew McCurley Sep 22nd 2010 at 3:00PM

World of Warcraft accounts have been under siege for years, with hackers and gold-selling outlets stealing passwords, items and more to fill their coffers, selling that gold to unwitting buyers. Blizzard has fought back incessantly over the years to stem the tide of gold farming and account hacking, and as you can imagine, the scale at which this happens is very tasking on its customer support department.

Blizzard has just announced a new, speedier way to get help and answered about your hacked account, stolen items, authenticator issues and more! Now, under the new system, you will not have to email or call Blizzard to get these matters into its queue -- simply use the Account Recovery Form.

Filed under: News items, Account Security

Adobe announces new Flash security vulnerability

by Joe Perez Sep 17th 2010 at 11:00AM

On Sept. 13, Adobe Systems released a security advisory detailing a vulnerability in its Flash Player 10.1.82.76 for earlier versions of Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris, and Adobe Flash Player 10.1.92.10 for Android. The vulnerability also affects Adobe Reader 9.3.4 for Windows, Macintosh and Unix and Adobe Acrobat 9.3.4 for earlier versions of Windows and Macintosh. The vulnerability allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service crash and execute a code to take control of your system by delivering this malicious code through a specially crafted PDF or Flash file.

For WoW players, this can mean infection by keyloggers that could potentially steal your login information and compromise your account.

Adobe Systems is working on a patch to stop this type of attack from being possible and plans to make it available the week of Sept. 27, with plans to update Adobe Reader 9.3.4 and Adobe Acrobat 9.3.4 the week of Oct. 4.

Filed under: News items, Account Security

Blizzard responds to common Real ID concerns

by Gregg Reece Jul 16th 2010 at 5:30PM

Nethaera (Blizzard community manager) posted answers to some of the common Real ID questions and concerns on the forums today. With the PR disaster that was Blizzard's original Real ID on the forums concept, a follow-up aimed at easing tensions in the community -- even after the retraction -- was to be expected. While Blizzard offered some good news on things people have been requesting, they also dodged other points for the moment in true Blizzard style.

Some highlights from the announcement:

no current plans for an online handle to be used in game with Real ID instead of your name
feature to disable your name's appearance in Friends of Friends list coming around the time of StarCraft II
plans for some sort of unique ID on the WoW forums

The full announcement is after the break.

Filed under: Blizzard, News items, Account Security

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