Posts with tag e-mail

For a while now, account thieves have been putting authenticators on their stolen accounts to buy more time for their scumbaggery. Blizzard has recently made that more difficult by requiring email confirmation when an authenticator is added to a Battle.net account. Rather than just logging in and putting in the appropriate information, you now have to follow the steps in a confirmation email sent to the address registered in your Battle.net account.

Note: Changing the email address on the account requires not only your password (which the account thieves already have at this point) but also the answer to your security question. So make sure the answer to your security question is not guessable or obtainable by any phishing information. As I have suggested before, if you use a password for your security answer rather than an actual answer, you are adding a very thick level of security. Make it a separate password you use just for security questions, like p45sw0rd (don't use that one).

We don't know how long ago Blizzard added email confirmation The email confirmation has been active since July 27 and we believe it will reduce the workload of Blizzard's customer service. More importantly, this will make getting your account back less painful.

Of course, the best way to prevent someone from stealing your account and then adding an authenticator to it is to put an authenticator on it yourself. There are keyfob and mobile versions available.

[Thanks for the tip, Joel!]

Blizzard poster Belfaire has confirmed over at the forums that the first wave of Beta keys for subscribers who have opted in have been sent out. If you opted in, you might want to check your inbox for a Beta key as Blizzard has said that the invites are random. If you're one of the lucky few, you just might be roaming the new (but not necessarily improved -- we hear there are lots of bugs, and not the Silithus kind) build of the Beta. If you didn't get a Beta key, fret not as Belfaire also mentioned succeeding waves but did not give an ETA. You can check out WoW Insider's extensive beta coverage while you wait.

If you're like me, you're constantly refreshing your email box right now waiting for a beta invite. Also if you're like me, you'll probably get bored eventually and go find some Horde to kill in a Batteground. After all, taking out your aggression on Orcs is what it's all about. But after that PvP session, you'll probably go right back to checking.

There's a few key things you can do to constantly check your email and make sure you know when the beta key comes. Let's take a look at them.

Press F5

That's the magic refresh key. It works on all browsers, and is a throwback to the old days of computers.

Press Control-R or Apple-R

Does the same thing as F5.

Auto check your email every minute

Most email programs allow you to "grab" email off the server as often as every minute. This is how I have my clients setup, and it will more or less let you know as soon as you get an email.

Apparently there's a new set of password scams going around.  These e-mails, apparently from security@blizzard.com, will request your account and password information.  Community manager Drysc reminds us that Blizzard will never send ask for your account password via e-mail, and any messages you may receive requesting passwords information, no matter how legitimate looking, is most likely a scam to steal your account.  If you've gotten an e-mail that looks suspicious, you can write billing@blizzard.com to confirm its validity.  Additional information about scams and account security can be found on Blizzard's support page, as well.