No Hacking For You
April 29, 2010
My husband surprised me tonight, by presenting me with my own Blizzard Authenticator. He knows I’m not playing World of Warcraft right not, but he sees no reason why I shouldn’t protect my account anyway. He got himself one too, and I guess it couldn’t have come at a better time. Apparently, our guild bank was hacked “yet again”, through two members, a father and daughter, who probably shared the same computer and were hit by the same keylogger. *Smacks forehead* You’ve gotta be real careful these days.
Anyway, I’m fighting the urge to test it out right now, or to check in to see if I got a pet in the mail (I should be getting a Core Hound Pup, right?) Must…resist! Oh well, at least when Cataclysm comes, I WILL be prepared (wait, wrong expansion!)
MMO Gamer Chick 
Excellent. It does slow down the login process. But the peace of mind and core hound pup are worth it.
Nice! Me and the wife got ours before they put out the Core Hounds, and then logged in when we resubbed to find Core Hounds just sitting in our mailbox!
Sadly ours are the Starcraft II ones, and not the awesome Cataclysm authenticators.
If you’re referring to the the one in the picture, Amun, it is actually a Molten Core memento, hence the core hound pups that were the incentive pets.
Just remember to still be careful. Authenticators are only as good as the precautions you normally take.
I would like to second ruz.
Blizzard again managed to make money and tie their customers a bit more with something they could also give away for free, as it saves their support team from work recovering and investigating account thefts.
There is the mobile authenticator, which they also sell over their store, this one cost unfortunately money, too.
But well, given how poor NCsoft handles the security of their PlayNC website, the authenticator is a good thing. I somehow feel at unease that it allows people to get away if they don’t take care. Phishing mails and keyloggers can be avoided using Brain 1.0.
Sounds overly critical, I know. I just don’t want to buy authenticator style devices or similar applications for every MMO I will play in future. I guess sooner or later they might become mandatory, including some nifty safeguards that prevent the account owner from selling it, what is atm only “prevented” by the EULA.
Oh, I completely agree. The first line of defense is always using your brain, making sure you don’t go to any iffy sites, give away your username or password to anybody, etc. For important accounts, I also try to change up passwords every 3-6 months.
Authenticators are great for people who want to be extra careful. In my opinion though, something so important should really come for free.
I don’t know if it’s been confirmed, but I had heard that every copy of Cataclysm is shipping with an authenticator included. This would NOT supercede the current authenticator, if you have one.
The authenticator is commonly distributed by corporations to employees to increase the security of the company intranet, online timesheets, expense report, etc. I have had two different ones working for certain past employers. The nature of the algorithm makes them extremely secure. The downside is that now you have a rather small physical object to keep track of.
Exactly. I found another USB stick today. People just love to forget them.
I got one after we got our guild hacked a few times in a short period of time. Right now it’s off since I’m not playing any blizzard game but I suppose it will come back on with Starcraft 2 later on.
Anyway the pet core hound is one the best vanity pets 🙂
wtf, they make stuff like that for wow? i want to make a comment, and i’m sure you wouldn’t care, but i’m pretty sure i would probably offend every person who reads your blog.
OK, Z, I’ll bite. After countless hours of playing this game during almost four years, and over $1,000 in software and subscription fees(for me and an ex-girlfriend’s account); I think a $6 electronic device is worth it to protect my hobby.
I’m sure you have an pastime, maybe golf or motorcycles. How would you feel if someone stole your golf clubs, or whatever it is you use to enjoy your leisure time? Assuming you are spending your own money on your hobby, I am sure you take steps to secure your investment in time and money.
The Blizzard Authenticator is simply a digital padlock on my battle.net/WoW account.
How romantic! 😉 I hope this is a sign that Mr. MMOGC is an astute student of his marriage 😛