by Jeff Woleslagle on May 05, 2009
Welcome to the 1,072nd Edition of Loading...
Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news and commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.
Phishing schemes have grown nearly as sophisticated as the account security measures made to stop them. While Loading... isn't usually much in the way of a public service announcement, a recent surge in WoW and EVE Online phishing attempts coupled with a security breach on the Ten Ton Hammer team prompt me to put you on your guard - these phishers of accounts may be more clever than you think. We'll tell you what to watch out for, how to check out a mysterious email, and even what to do if you fall prey. Plus, we'll link you to an exclusive tour of Icarus Studios (makers of Fallen Earth), previews of Champions Online's core systems, and have new game guides for both EVE and WoW in today's Loading... Phishbait!
Need more newsletter? Play World of Warcraft? Jay "Medeor" Johnson's weekly WoW newsletter "The Overpull" comes out every Tuesday and keeps you entertained and informed on all the latest developments in WoW. Sign up!
The Pulse
First, you vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Hammer Pulse (What is Pulse?). Here's the top 5 this week:
World of Warcraft EverQuest 2 Age of Conan Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Warhammer OnlineAnd here are the biggest movers in the Top 20 today:
Guild Wars (UP 7 to #15) Champions Online (UP 6 to #10) Atlantica Online (down 4 to #16)Loading... Daily
If you've ever subscribed to an MMO, chances are you've gotten a phishing email, saying something to the effect of, "Oh noe! Something horrible has happened to your account. Please go to this fake URL and 'login' to prevent your account from being suspended" - the intent being to steal your username and password when you attempt to log in. The problem has become something of a pandemic with World of Warcraft especially, no doubt prompting Blizzard to resort to an ancient Chinese secret, now available as an iPhone app. Still, the phishing attempts continue and are in fact on the rise. I get a half dozen each week, and this Wired blogger confirms I'm not the only one lately.
The quality of the phishing emails has improved along with the security measures. For the longest time the aping boilerplate plain text was almost laughable, but now we have a graphically skinned forgery of an officious Blizzard email, complete with "accounts@worldofwarcraft.com" in the sender field. If click the link, a TinyURL redirect will take you to an address that isn't quite blizzard.com or worldofwarcraft.com or battle.net, but is close enough to slip your attention, especially if you're in an account-saving panic.
According to one of our staffers who fell victim (and the fake is so cunningly done there's really no shame in it), his account was picked clean between the time it took to have his username and password rejected and logging in to the real account website to change his password. Several annoying hours in the petition queue (in WoW, you'll need to /petition your friendly in-game GM for reimbursement - don't bother calling customer support) and everything was returned.
The problem isn't limited to World of Warcraft, either, as the call went out yesterday for EVE Online players to watch out for phishing emails. EVE, unlike WoW, sanctions limited conversion of real to virtual currency through a secondary market of out-of-game EVE Time Cards ETCs) and in-game PLEX items (Pilot License Extensions), so stolen money has potentially one fewer step to go through before being "laundered" by an exchange for legitimate goods.
If you get such an email, regardless of the game, and want to check it out, the only thing to do is open a new browser window and type your way to the official site, then navigate your way to the account management page - don't click any link on the questionable email.
But who are these masked men phishing for your account info? Since money is the most fluid means of exchange and virtual currency and items are worthless until exchanged for real money, you can be assured that a more intelligent, more unethical variant of the common goldseller is at the the other end of your phishing email.
Yet another reason not to support illicit RMT. Comment in the Loading... forum, or feel free to email me.
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the DayNew MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]
Fallen Earth - Exclusive: A Front Row Seat to the ApocalypseReal World News
Major Dickie Head 'staggered' at changed look of Basra, Iraq [Link courtesy of Matt N.!]Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
-- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer team