Update - Wednesday, December 2, 2009

So you are saying it's unreasonable to assume people are purposefully withholding questionable activities that may have lead to their "hacking"? I don't ever see any of the big fish getting hit with account theft, these would be the tens of millions in assets crowd. If there were active hacks going on they would be the people to target not some lowballer with 350k. If I'm wrong I'll eat crow here but I doubt it. Your average Joe "porn and torrents" Schmoe doesn't know his ass from his elbow in basic computer security and that's the problem. I see it all the time with customers.

If you don't want me hating on the retards, don't make claims that it's not their fault.

Moron.
12 chars.

Ok, explain how having an unsecured computer or giving away account information is a smart idea.

Given that you have no idea what you are talking about I suggest you STFU troll.

Explain how your assumption is valid - that everyone who loses their account, now and forever, in your simple black and white world... is because they had an unsecured computer or gave away their account information.

Since you're a moron, I'd better give you a hint: you can't explain that because its NOT valid.

Let me guess: you lost your account due to ignorance and neglect, and now the butthurt is welling up as you realize it was your fault.

No one who keeps their details private and uses a proper antivirus is losing their account.

You know, the world is not black and white...

I knew you wouldn't be able to justify your assumption, and I was right. Instead you attempt to divert attention with that pathetic response.

And you are wrong. I've never been hacked yet. See how worthless and idiotic your assumptions are?

Moron.

I found this on Gaile's support page.

Update: 2 December 2009

Link
People often use the same password and email for all of their online business because it is easier to maintain and remember one. This is a bad idea because if one site has a breach then the perpetrator has access to all of your accounts everywhere.

I think this explains the recent spate of account thefts.

Use different passwords people!

Absolutely dead on. There's this concept called logic that Zahr Dalsk should look into. But you do need to be fair here. He isn't a moron. He is ill educated. The troublesome bit is that he couldn't do anything about being a moron, but he can do something about his ignorance.

The argument that all account thefts result from user error cannot be decisively proven, but there is ample evidence to suggest that the contention is not true.

What is disturbing about this whole episode is the cover up. ANet has denied the issue from the beginning and appears to be subtly trying pass it off in the update notes. Guru is complicit; Inde has repeatedly muzzled debate of the issue. Forum rules or no, this needed to be discussed. Account integrity is the single most important issue to players in a game like this, and I simply cannot fathom how ANet thinks they can pass this off with a wink and a nod yet retain the loyalty of their customers.

ONLY IF THEY ACTUALLY "FIXED" THE SITUATION WITH ACTUAL SECURITY MEASURES OR IF THEY DID A REGULAR ANET BANDAID FIX. i've had my account hacked and i wasnt the only one in my guild to have it happen. i'm not sure how my account was hacked yet but this could explain that. i hope they fixed it 100%. may dwayna be with us LOL.

Don't hold your breathe. Official clarification on this would mean that Anet would have to admit the smallest minutia of fault for the hacks, and they refuse to do that.

Btw, security is a 2 way street. Several of my friend's accounts have been hacked lately (through the NCSoft website), and all but one of them use over 13 character passwords with random capital letters and numbers. Oh, and none of them had their characters' names or emails on any fansite and used separate passwords for their email, GW, and everything else. And obviously, they all had virus protection.


Just saying....it can't ALWAYS be the players faults.

And once they were at fault they'd be expected to do something about it. I'm sure that Legal and Support are both screaming for silence on the matter.

Which is the whole reason that this issue needed free, fair and frank community discussion. ANet isn't going to admit anything unless we make them, and the people that got hacked aren't going to be made whole if they can successfully sweep this thing under the rug.

This is the top priority issue in the game. If you ask players whether they'd rather have balance or security, they'll take security hands down any day of the week. But the only way we're going to get that is if we, as a community, hold ANet accountable. No one will do it for us.

I understand the impulse to muzzle; a thread openly discussing security issues would be wild and woolly, with much moderation and unsubtle arm-twisting required. Unfortunately, muzzling the community lets the game company run roughshod over us, and that's wrong.

That is utter garbage and untrue. People I know that were also hacked have top grade security. I'd love to tell you off for ignorance but it's not worth it.

To be honest, I'm surprised you're not used to it yet. I am.

My friend just got hacked a couple hours ago. We're trying to recover his password at the moment its sad how heartless people can be.

sorry to hear it. But my point is it's Anet not the players. And for other smart remarks - I have and do use different passwords.

Well, I understand why they do it. ANet's using the same mechanism that Cheney used with the media in Bush's first term. They trade access for control, gaining some ability to shape community discussion by influencing fansite mods.

There's only one condition where this strategy fails. That's when people get tired of it and call them on it. So I speak out.

oddly enough all my emails and passwords are pretty much the same except with a 1 at the end or such

ive yet to be hacked in ANY game ive played. maybe cuz im dirt poor

but it seems through what im reading here you people seem to discount human stupidity?

sure all problems may not have been caused by negligent users but you make it seem as if thats impossible through your statements, and though i wont say arenanet is at fault or not at fault.

for most cases anything computer related who usually causes the problem?

as for the people who claim to have top grade security

i mean how do you know its not a vulnerbility through xfire ?
when my comp crashes i dont blame microsoft i bish at ati for selling me this crappy vcard

i didnt realise nsa's security protocols were available for common use no security is topgrade imo

i would group all in the medium range. as of right now i know of 2 keyloggers that arent detected by avg, norton, or antimalware bytes.

netstat you will see some interesting things there.

in conclusion if i were forced to say i would say that its a combo of user fail and a-net fail. oh onscreen keyboard helps people

p.s if youre going to use norton use norton corporate edition. home is utter crap