How to Keep Your WoW Account Safe

When you have a MMORPG as, well, massive as WoW the desire of some unscrupulous individuals to use your account for their own purposes will exist. There are many reasons why one's account may be compromised, but first let us get a few things straight. First, your account is almost certainly not being "hacked". This is a misnomer that implies a directed attack against you and/or your account personally. In almost every single case this is not what happens. Rather your account information has been compromised, or has become known to an unauthorized person. This can happen many different ways. The most common of these is that you gave the information away yourself, either knowing or unknowingly. You let your friend play on your account when you're not using it. Giving your account information to ANYONE is a very, very bad idea. Not only is it a violation of Blizzards TOS and EULA, but you know have no control over how this information is used and who gets it from that point on. Another way of this happening is by clicking on a link you assume to be legitimate and filling out a form with your account information. NEVER do this! If you believe you need to go to a site to enter your account info, always type the url in yourself, do not blindly follow a link. There are countless sites that have been created to do just this sort of thing, and sadly they are very successful. In short, protect your account info and share it with no one.

Another common way for this to occur is through keyloggers on your system. These can be carried in files you download off the internet, programs you install, or simply in graphics on unmoderated or careless websites. These may seem a bit scary at first, well how are we to know what's safe and what isn't? Luckily there are ways to protect yourself.

The first and best defense is one Blizzard offers you direct from them, and this is of course the authenticator.  It is offered free to many mobile devices or the keychain version is $6.50.  Either way you go about it, get one.  It generates a random 6 digit code every time you need to login.  This code must be entered within 60 seconds.  With this even if someone had your account information they would not be able to do anything with it because they would not have access to this authentication code.

Second, you need to protect your PC from threats.  Get a competent firewall and antivirus program and keep it updated.  Most internet providers offer these free of charge so take full advantage of them.  This will not completely protect you however.  You also need to get anti-spyware and malware programs.  Some of the most effective are SpyBot- Search and Destroy and Malwarebytes.  Both are free to use and will effectively find and or stop most of the common keyloggers out there.

Third, take a look at the internet browser you are using.  Internet Explorer is the most widely used and therefore the most targeted and vulnerable.  Now, I can't force you to do anything you don't want to but I would STRONGLY recommend using Mozilla Firefox with the NoScript and AdBlockerPlus addons.  These tools combine to block all unwanted ads from displaying and to stop any script from running that may covertly install a keylogger onto your system.

Finally a few simple precautions to take:  Only log in to your account from a computer you trust and know is clean.  Never login from a public computer such as an internet cafe or library as you do not know what is on them.  Also if connecting wirelessly, make sure it is through an encrypted network as there are programs (packet sniffers) out there than can read information sent across an unecrypted network.

So let's assume that none of the above advice was taken and you end up with a "hacked" account. What do you do now? Your characters have no gear, your gold is gone, and you can't even log in because they changed your password.  The very first thing you need to do is scan your computer using the programs mentioned.  Do not attempt to log in to your accounts or change your passwords until you are certain no infection is left on your PC, otherwise you account will just be taken over again.

Luckily Blizzard is generally very good at resolving these issues. You need to contact their customer support to report the issue (contact information below). When you do make sure you have all of your account information available, including your secret question and answer and potentially your CD key used when the game was installed so they can verify your identity. Once reported it can take up to a week for everything to be restored, but bear in mind Blizzard will also tell you that account security is your responsibility, not theirs, and they will not continue to restore your account if it is compromised multiple times. So take my above advice and protect your information.

Phone Support:
(Hours: 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. Pacific Time, seven days a week)

• _{US Account & Billing: 1-800-592-5499}
• _{Technical Support: 1-949-955-1382}
• _{Australia Account & Billing: 1-800-041-378}
• _{Mexico Account & Billing: 001-888-578-7628}
• _{Argentina Account & Billing: 0800-333-0778}
• _{Chile Account & Billing: 1230-020-5554}

_{Online Support:}

• _{Support Web Form: http://www.blizzard.com/support/webform.xml}
• _{Account & Billing: billing@blizzard.com}
• _{Mac Support: macsupport@blizzard.com}
• _{Technical Support: wowtech@blizzard.com}
• _{World of Warcraft Accounts: wowaccountadmin@blizzard.com}

_{For support information regarding other regions not listed here, please refer to:
http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&tag=international}

_{Disclaimer: The author is in no way affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment ©, it's parents, affiliates, or subsidiary companies. The information contained in this article is for informative purposes only and does not in any way constitute legal or professional advice and the author cannot be held liable for any actions or damages arising from its use.}