Security? Do you care? You should!!

Around Azeroth there are more people than I would like to admit that want everything you have and they want it for free. They will try anything and everything to get you to mumble those magick letters and numbers to access your world. I have been meaning to do this for awhile so it is better late than never right? Above is a screen shot of what a Blizzard mail looks like in case most do not know. Notice the Blizzard Blue and the fact that in that lovely shade of blue it says BLIZZARD.

There have been 3 people close to me that have been 'hacked'. I say 'hacked' because it is very rare that someone gets truly Hacked over their own stupidity.

Case #1: Fayt (shortened for privacy altho they no longer play the game). In game notes are the leading cause of being 'hacked'. With the promises of rare pets and potential in game perks that only you can access. All you have to do is go here and sign-in there and poof! Something you have not earned nor worked for is suddenly yours. It's too good to be true! Right? While the average person is of sound mind to know that something is wrong, there are those few that get that twinge of curiosity that they cannot resist. So while you have gold invested in Storage/Guild with them, everything you have worked hard for is in someone elses pocket getting sold for real world money. I actually witnessed them running around Dalaran with no pants on while their armor was sold for yet more gold to appease the thief. When I questioned them as to why they were running around with out pants the thief replies "Because I feel like it."

Case #2: Loga "A same as above scenario" Except I didn't witness it first hand. Self admitted it was a 'innocent' note. A promise of a pet and a mirror site later mocked up to look as if you were logging into your account at WorldofWarcraft.com. It is never the best of things when you go to your joint guild bank and everything of value is gone. Tens of Thousands of gold and hard earned rarities stolen. The mirror site even had the warning Blizzard puts on the bottom of the login site that tells you what to look for in the address bar. (For security reasons, close your web browser when you are done accessing services that require authentication! Secure Blizzard Entertainment web pages that request your account name and password will contain URLs such as worldofwarcraft.com, blizzard.com, and battle.net.) <~As if this should do any good since half the population no longer reads anything.

Case #3: The Hunter... Now this was interesting. An actual Hacked account. So well done that they were out of commission for two weeks so that the godz and Blizzard could assemble everything as it was. No strange notes or mails required. In fact they still do not know how it was done. Their account was ravaged. Character Transfer to two of their toons, Bank emptied, Guild allotted stacks taken, and the prevention of enjoyment to something that they pay for. Even an Authenticator was actually placed on the account to prevent access.

Notice those nice little Trade and Yelling spams for gold in exchange for real world money? Where do you think they get it from? They get it from young kids and unguarded minds of adults that do not know any better. Do us all a favor and "Report Spam" and kick as many of them off the street as possible. Keep the integrity of the game. Never buy gold, work for it as most of us do, because if you do you are promoting the theft of accounts, possibly your own...

Since Cataclysm is soon to release the thieves have been working overtime. Not content with promises of pets or rare items, they resort to beta testing. You can always look at this as I do. Why in the hell would I level a toon only to get all the time and effort taken away when the expansion releases? Not only that but imagine the bugs! And this Rogue hates BUGS! *cringe*