World of Warcraft™

I want to stress this, this is not trying to get my characters' gear back or anything like that. What i want to talk about is the futility of Blizzards security.
i recently started playing wow again and i got my level 85 resto druid some gear. He had a fair amount of gold, around 8-9k, if i remember correctly. When i Started playing again they made me change my password. When i went over to my friends house i was forced to change my password because my logins were irregular. When i would go back home i would have to change my password. Ultimately, i would end up changing my password several times in one month. But i logged on Friday of last week and i noticed that all of my characters gear and gold was gone. He had nothing. I ultimately ended up deleting my druid because I personally don't like playing a druid. What is the point of changing my password so many times if im just going to get hacked anyway. Even if im changing my password every weekend, i can still get hacked and lose everything i farmed for.
I want to prevent this from happening again. Will an authenticator really prevent me from getting hacked again? or will it just be another effort in futility.

having to change your password often is a sign that someone's been trying to, or has been on your account. it took them a month to plan the "hacking" of your account. you had one month to protect yourself since your info has been breached somehow. my first suggestion would have been to change your password on your email.

in any case, been an authenticator fan for years.

Yes, the authenticator will help. It /is/ possible for your account to be hacked while you're using one, but it's not very likely, and if I recall correctly, Blizz gives you back everything if you're hacked while using one.

Also, changing your passwords often won't do a lick of good if you or your friend have keyloggers or other malicious applications hiding on your machines. Scan often, scan with multiple applications, scan religiously.

I play at home, at my day job, occasionally at my evening job, and on vacation. (All on my own computer, but obviously different IPs.)

I have two accounts and two authenticators, and in two and a half years, I have never been hacked. (*knock on wood*)

That's the only evidence I can offer as to the efficacy of authenticators -- that they appear to have worked for me so far.

First, if you contact Blizzard they will get your gear back.

Second, Blizzard's security is excellent. The only way they got into your account was from something you did.

Same email for everything? Surfing with no protection? Virus Scans? Odds are they got your login info from you through a key logger you picked up.

Lastly, this is why Blizzard added the Authenticator. Its free if you have a Smart Phone, and only a few bucks for shipping if you don't. Since you already have a computer that can play WoW, high-speed internet, the game and its expacs, and the monthly sub fee, you shouldn't have a problem spending a few bucks for the Fob. Then you'll never get hacked again.

1. Get an authenticator.

2. Don't watch adult videos on adult video websites.

3. Don't download torrents.

4. Don't use the same password for everything.

5. Don't use Windows.

If you do all five of those, your chances of having problems are massively reduced.

edited due to me forgetting that a synonym for "adult videos" is blacklisted.

I want to stress this, this is not trying to get my characters' gear back or anything like that. What i want to talk about is the futility of Blizzards security.
i recently started playing wow again and i got my level 85 resto druid some gear. He had a fair amount of gold, around 8-9k, if i remember correctly. When i Started playing again they made me change my password. When i went over to my friends house i was forced to change my password because my logins were irregular. When i would go back home i would have to change my password. Ultimately, i would end up changing my password several times in one month. But i logged on Friday of last week and i noticed that all of my characters gear and gold was gone. He had nothing. I ultimately ended up deleting my druid because I personally don't like playing a druid. What is the point of changing my password so many times if im just going to get hacked anyway. Even if im changing my password every weekend, i can still get hacked and lose everything i farmed for.
I want to prevent this from happening again. Will an authenticator really prevent me from getting hacked again? or will it just be another effort in futility.

You can call customer support and they can assist you in undoing these problems. If you are having so many attempts on your account, then the email that your account is linked to has likely been compromised also. Get a new email address, attach your account to it, and change your wow password again. The hacker is getting your new password every time because he is reading your email.

Be safer with your web browsing, visiting shady websites could be the problem here with how your information was breached in the first place.

EDIT: Do not follow the above steps until you are 100% sure your comp is virus and spyware/malware free. Otherwise, they will probably just get your new email pass because the likely have software on your computer.

02/22/2012 02:40 PMPosted by Hiyas

Will an authenticator really prevent me from getting hacked again? or will it just be another effort in futility.

Nope. The application which captures keystrokes will still remain on your pc. This application may not get past blizzard's authtication methods, yet if ya leave it on long enough, I'm sure it'll find other passwords of value.

Edit: Just to clarify. The authenticator will protect your wow account if you should happen to play on a compromised (hacked) computer. However, you will still have to remove this rogue appliaction yourself.

I've been hacked a couple of times.

Then I got an authenticator.

Never been hacked since.

Blizzard is a multi billion dollar industry. If they didn't have excellent security, they wouldn't be here.

Blizzard's security is fine. Yours, OP, is not.

02/22/2012 02:50 PMPosted by Whyvette

5. Don't use Windows.

Any computer whether it mac or windows is susceptible to keyloggers. Spreading this kind of misinformation is a terrible idea.

02/22/2012 02:59 PMPosted by Hellasha

5. Don't use Windows.

Any computer whether it mac or windows is susceptible to keyloggers. Spreading this kind of misinformation is a terrible idea.

Indeed. People hack Windows because more people use Windows.

If you were going to rob something, would you rob a person, or a bank?

Ive been playing for years and have never been "hacked". Must have been doing something covert

1. Get an authenticator.

2. Don't watch adult videos on adult video websites.

3. Don't download torrents.

4. Don't use the same password for everything.

5. Don't use Windows.

If you do all five of those, your chances of having problems are massively reduced.

edited due to me forgetting that a synonym for "adult videos" is blacklisted.

2 and 5 are not 100% correct. You just need to have GOOD passwords and not really easy to pick out.

02/22/2012 02:50 PMPosted by Whyvette

5. Don't use Windows.

I use Windows. I have never been hacked. Being hacked is independent of your OS and of Blizz security. It has everything to do with what the end-user is doing on the computer or what computer they are using.

Stop being dumb.

I was hacked because I was dumb and put my wow credentials in a non wow site.

I got the authenticator to protect myself from myself.

Windows, Macintosh, and Linux all can have key loggers or virus' on them, so please don't single out windows and give people a false sense of security. There have been vulnerabilities in adobe flash and reader and that's across all platforms. If you get hacked it's probably your fault for not taking steps to protect yourself.