Blizzard account hacked for the 6th time

[gideonkain]

Yes, that's right - this is the sixth time now I've gotten an email saying that mt password reset has been sent - I went to the World of Warcraft website to see and it turns out that the account I was on that I stopped playing WoW with 2 years ago now has gained 2 levels on my Paladin, 55 levels on my Black Knight and created a troll hunter when I only ever played Alliance.

The only reason I was able to discover my account was hacked? Because I tried to play a game of Starcraft II and couldn't log on.

So basically for months now somebody has been playing WoW for free using my account information.

This makes me very angry at Blizzard for allowing this to happen - would they not have the ability to detect when my account is being accessed from another city/state/country?

Steam doesn't let me log on to with with another computer in my own house and yet Battle.Net will allow a hacker to use my account for months.

 

[Antitonic]

To be fair, their system probably works better if you're someone who plays fairly regularly. It could've looked like you moved, and forgot to change your information. Hell, my sister moved out nearly 10 years ago now, and we still get her bills because she hasn't bothered to change the address.

 

[Rasmus Emilsson]

Battle.net Authenticator

 

[Vampire cat]

This has happened to me 3 times, my first account I never got back >>. WoW should REALLY have the same system Steam does, or something similar anyway. Strangely they didn't take anything from my account. They just played on it, leveled me some, got some new stuff... All my cash was there even, AND I got a free 20-days of subscribed gameplay... wtf? X3

 

[gideonkain]

That's true, but this is the sixth time.

I moved away, moved back, moved away, moved back, moved away, moved back , moved away, moved back, moved away, moved back, moved away and then moved back in the last year?

I haven't played since Lich King and yet in late October I got the achivement "Killed by Deathwing"
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/dalaran/Whitegold/simple

 

[Keava]

First - It's very rarely companies fault that Your account got hacked. If You use the e-mail address used for B.Net in random places and have easy to crack password, or answer phishing e-mails It's hardly Their fault.

Second - Since You haven't used that account as You say, for 2 years, it stops being suspicious when only log-in's are from the new location. If You were logging in regularly from Your usual location it would more apparent that the point of access is much different on short intervals.

Third - Steam is a piece of software and hardware recognition is much easier over piece of software than website. If I remember correctly Blizzard din't include the hardware checking till Cataclysm, which is less than 2 years ago.

Fourth - contact customer support. They get paid for handling such issues. I do not. You will probably need Your WoW or Starcraft2 cd-key to confirm Your identity so prepare them before You call.

 

[ElNeroDiablo]

See, THIS is why I tend to change the email account my main B.Net account is linked to whilst rotating passwords every couple of months, to prevent this sort of shit happening to me.

 

[Phishfood]

6th time? dude, use better passwords.

Also, if you are not playing surely you stop paying the sub?

Still, it can be quite hard to detect if an IP is in a different area and as antitonic said, even if it was detected to be a different location it could quite easily be a simple house move. Steam blocks on PC hardware ID, so accessing from another location is not a problem, just changing PC.

 

[DasDestroyer]

I only ever played Alliance.

Well there's your problem

OT:I recall last time I logged into SC2 there was a message that they were adding some sort of authentification system to SC2 that was already in use in WoW, so you might want to take a look at that.

 

[CrawlingPastaHellion]

The only reason I was able to discover my account was hacked? Because I tried to play a game of Starcraft II and couldn't log on.

A pro-tip: get yourself a firewall and an anti-virus/spyware, don't open all those fishy e-mails offering you a kingdom in Africa and don't go to all those fishy sites that make you click on a hundred different links at once.

What you call "hacking" is nothing more than you being stupid. Real hacking doesn't work that way. You either gave your login data away willingly through a phishing e-mail or unwillingly through a keylogger.

Geez, people, learn some basic computer science before you start throwing technical terms around.

 

[vehystrix]

I found the IP checks blizzard does to be rather overzealous. I travel weekly between 2 countries, and whenever I'd log in on the same day from the 2, I'd get an email saying my account got hacked. I get that this is a great way to stop hackers, but I had to change my password weekly because of this. I contacted their customer support about this, and they could do nothing about it because this is how the system works. Now I just avoid logging in from both countries on the same day.

So yeah, I think the system works, it's just that you still need to be on your toes. Also it may seem this hacker has a hold of your email/personal question.

 

[gideonkain]

I still use the account to play Starcraft II, once every few months.

I doesn't matter what my password is - it's not like there sitting there trying to crack it, if your password has letters and/or numbers it can be cracked by a computer.

I signed up for the Battle.Net Authenticator now, so hopefully that will be enough.

It's heartwarming to see half the posts say "It's your fault you got victimized."
Real classy.

My subscription wasn't renewed or anything and my characters are still on there and like a previous poster they now have better gear and are higher level.

So hopefully this is over, thanks Rasmus and Vampire Cat for constructive replies

 

[lionsprey]

I still use the account to play Starcraft II, once every few months.

I doesn't matter what my password is - it's not like there sitting there trying to crack it, if your password has letters and/or numbers it can be cracked by a computer.

I signed up for the Battle.Net Authenticator now, so hopefully that will be enough.

It's heartwarming to see half the posts say "It's your fault you got victimized."
Real classy.

My subscription wasn't renewed or anything and my characters are still on there and like a previous poster they now have better gear and are higher level.

So hopefully this is over, thanks Rasmus and Vampire Cat for constructive replies

It does matter what your password is. the best thing is having a long password with mixed numbers and or letters that isn't a word. also can't you IP lock battle.net acounts? i thought i saw that option when visiting the wow website but that was a long time ago.

 

[mikey7339]

This makes me very angry at Blizzard for allowing this to happen - would they not have the ability to detect when my account is being accessed from another city/state/country?

I'm sorry but why are you angry at them and not yourself? If I'm mistaken about this I apologize but I'm imagining your account was hacked through some fault of your own such as playing on a non-secure system or responding to a phishing attempt.

I've never had an account, WoW or any other hacked (except my PSN, which happened to every single user so I don't count that) because I make sure the systems I play on are secure and I have common sense enough to know when someone is trying to phish for my account information.

 

[Antitonic]

I think it's less "I got hacked! Angry!", and more "I got hacked, and it took them this long to figure it out! Angry!"

 

[cgaWolf]

It's heartwarming to see half the posts say "It's your fault you got victimized."
Real classy.

You blamed the company, when you haven't taken appropriate and offered measures to secure your account. What did you expect? Security doesn't happen, you need to take care of it. Failure to do so does not warrant sympathy.

If you had taken the appropriate measures, but someone had broken into your house, stolen your authenticator, kidnapped your puppy & extorted the password out of you, then we'd be sorry for you. Blizzard has been offering 2 factor authentication & educating their customers for years - how are they at fault?

 

[gideonkain]

This makes me very angry at Blizzard for allowing this to happen - would they not have the ability to detect when my account is being accessed from another city/state/country?

I'm sorry but why are you angry at them and not yourself? If I'm mistaken about this I apologize but I'm imagining your account was hacked through some fault of your own such as playing on a non-secure system or responding to a phishing attempt.

I've never had an account, WoW or any other hacked (except my PSN, which happened to every single user so I don't count that) because I make sure the systems I play on are secure and I have common sense enough to know when someone is trying to phish for my account information.

Your right, I am probably lashing out in anger, I haven't seen any sort of IP blocker option and my password was "two random words + my social security number + my birthday" so if that's not enough, we're all screwed, my password was 33 characters long.

 

[Kramcake2516]

That's true, but this is the sixth time.

I moved away, moved back, moved away, moved back, moved away, moved back , moved away, moved back, moved away, moved back, moved away and then moved back in the last year?

I haven't played since Lich King and yet in late October I got the achivement "Killed by Deathwing"
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/dalaran/Whitegold/simple

By the sounds of it his doing pretty well

OT: This has happened to me twice only found out the second time that it has as i got an email from them saying they are suspending the account as I?m trying to sell it. One of the main reasons i don?t play this now that and i want to see the outside world now and again.

 

[KeyMaster45]

Yes, that's right - this is the sixth time now I've gotten an email saying that mt password reset has been sent - I went to the World of Warcraft website to see and it turns out that the account I was on that I stopped playing WoW with 2 years ago now has gained 2 levels on my Paladin, 55 levels on my Black Knight

And I'm going to stop you right there because there's no such class, unless you're talking about a Death Knight but even then the max you can gain is 30 levels since it starts out at level 55.

If your account is getting hacked repeatedly then you are doing something wrong when it comes to your online security. So yes, technically it is your fault not Blizzard's. Since SC2 hasn't been out for two years I'd wager your account was only hacked recently and that someone has not been playing WoW for free for the last two years.

Blizzard is not your personal nanny, the only person you have to be angry at when your account gets hacked is yourself. Because whether your realized it or not you did something that gave them access to both your Battle.net account and the e-mail account associated with it.

Yes, I feel sorry for you but you've obviously not learned anything from the previous six instances of your account being compromised. I'd suggest you familiarize yourself with the following two support pages if you don't want to have it happen again. You'll find just as little sympathy from users if you tell them you've been hacked a 7th time, so a bit of boning up on basic net security might be in your best interest.

http://us.battle.net/en/security/
http://us.battle.net/en/security/help