we can call this hacking

Don't be silly, if you follow some very simple security rules you CANNOT be hacked.

The kids who play this game arn't super programmers, they use very simple and obvious tricks to steal your information.

I am attacked by a trojan on average every third time I log onto GW, only one attack has ever got past my firewall & my scanner caught it very quickly afterwards.

Some straight forward tips:

1.) Never download anything you don't absolutely trust.
2.) Cycle your password every 2 weeks.
3.) Keep a full security package running at ALL times.
3.) Never give your secure information to anyone or use the same password twice.
4.) Run a full spybot/adware & virus scan at least once every week.

If you follow these simple rules you won't get hacked & you can sit back, put your feet up & enjoy the game.

Wow every 2 weeks password changed? I never been hacked and I been playing for 8 months.

So you know he can take back the account he gave you at anytime by saying "you stole it" and sending in a faxed copy of the CD-key though you could do the same.

Possible cause of this "hacking":

1) Using the same password everywhere: email, gw account, windows, etc...

2) Downloading some "uber trainer" or "uber farm bot"

3) Visiting a web site with malicious content and approving the installation of an ActiveX control (wich, can do alot of things)

4) Sigining up to GW realted forum with malicious owner and using same password as for ypur guildwars account wich is registered to the same email you signed up with


So wich one did you do?

A good example of how ignorance fosters a false sense of security. Your use of the term "super programmers" was a really nice touch.

:Sigh:

You know, I don't want to sound mean but its people like this that make me wounder.

I mean really think about this for a moment, you are going to put your 16 character password in a desktop shorcut. A shortcut that is in most cases probably shared. I mean hell all someone would need to do is gains access to your desktop and all the hardwork of password theft is done in clear text on the desktop in a shortcut.

Why oh why, Ill never understand why people waste their time trying to be sensible about security all the while just sticking it out there in plain view.

If you have a password e-mail Anet and tell them what happened. Fax them your password or code when you the game. If your game was hacked there was to track the stealer.

If someone wants your box, they will get it. Saying you can not be hacked is ludicrous.

You get hit by a trojan by simply logging into the game? Interesting as you can't be back traced past the GW servers. If someone cracked the servers it's extremely unlikely they're after one single account. And trojans don't come at you from the outside. They start on the inside and send stuff out.

The rest of the tips are decent, but the AV scans should be daily. And you missed one of the most important ones. Always patch the OS. Good idea to update all the apps as well. Especially things like java, flash, shockwave, etc.

ROFLOLMAO! I laughed for like 2 mins hahaha

Thank you.

/unplugs CAT5 from the computer






...what?

as mentioned above, how exactly would they attack you from outside? unless we're talking about someone who is seriously 1337, you'd need to have something on your computer to let them in. what sort of attack are we talking about? a ping of death? thats not going to get them your password. sounds alot like you forgot to follow your own advice at some point and currently have a trojan...

Dude, just take your original account back, like someone said. Change your password, get a good spyware program to route out the keystroke logger and be done with it.

Anytime anyone thinks someone has their account, IMMEDIATELY change the password. It's linked to your email only, so they can't change it back.

Of course... you really need to be sure your computer's clean.

Theres only one way youve been hacked, your pc has been compromised either by a trojan or a keylogger.

If its a trojan then he could be watching everything you do.
If its a key logger hes spying on everything you type.

You might want to do netstat -a in command prompt to see if any programs are listening for connections on a weird port number.

If i was you id install a free antivirus(avast,avg) run it, install zone alarm and check if anything suspiciouse makes a outgoing connection attempt and if so block it. Then google the app.

After your sure your pc is ok, log in the hacked account he gave you, give all the items and cash to a freind.

Email guild wars explaining the situation with a pictue of the box, serial key and disks and your old account name.

Theyl reset the password for you, now ask for the free gear back from your freind

Laugh in the guys face.

I would recommend a total format of your machine at that point. Its the only way to be sure, the Windows XP System restore does more damage then it's worth.

Actually, you might be in a totally different situation than him. NCSoft is being handed a large class-action lawsuit due to identity theft of its users right now. Do some searching on the web and you should have several places to find more information about it..

As far as characters and items are concerned you are probably out of luck. You are from the North American region I take it? If you were in Korea or Japan you would have a bit better luck. Lawsuits recently in both of thosxe countries (the Korean one I think was imposed by a Chinese court because the Korean company operates in China, I believe) have been successful in recovering lost items (as they have records of them) much in the same way as 'real' property can be returned.

They are probably overwhelmed at most of the MMOs and don't hav ethe resources to follow up or act on most of these instances is probably the reason they set policies of not return/recovering data (or only recovering an account once). This has never been tested in an American court that I know of (or Canadian) and probably won't hold up, but nobody really knows. People all over the world figured they wouldn't hold up in these cases, but they did. I'm not advocating a mass sue-fest, as that would only degrade the MMOs further and possibly result in some kind of regulation to protect them (or arbitration clauses that they would require you to sign), but there are always options.

By outright refusing to restore your items (even if it means duping new items) kinda seems like they're passing the buck. I believe the successful cases involved Redmoon Online and Dragon Warrior 10,000 (joking on the number, but some sequel to it), though I may be mistaken on their names.

Since he gave you his account, tell anet about his account and they will be able to track the hacker and take action.

Good luck

You would have to leave open certain ports, by which a hacker can get into your sytem through, and he would have to know his way around. Needless to say, anyone with those type of skills wouldn't be hacking your computer for a few virtual items. These guys go for big money cc#'s in cache to be more specific and other personal information by which identity theft is made possible. Other than that 99.99% of hacks are just keyloggers.

Getting an account stolen always involves cooperation on the part of the victim, I can't really imagine some 1337 h4xx0r hacking random computers in search of Guild Wars passwords. Have fun with your brand new account !

Its funny how many you are telling to use an AV. AV only detects known malwares. Any decent hacker can write his own private keylogger. So if your PC is compromised and your AV doesnt detect anything doesnt mean its clear. Firewall is more important in detecting those keyloggers. If it phones home it should trigger your FW unless its that advanced that it has disabled it or by adding itself in the permit table.

Anyway i wouldnt trust that PC to do my finances without a format.

i was wondering if buying a account off of ebay would be a good or bad idea?

hi aero

name one thing wrong there for a home pc with secure physical access.

if someone has forced entry to the house i have bigger problems while the intruder is here.

HAVING SAID THAT A DISCLAIMER TO USE THAT ONLY ON A SECURE MACHINE IS WARRANTED.

it is nice knowing a keylogger cant see it though.

and yes i have a router firewall and zonealarm as well

What is the main point of hacking? All I can come up with is that there just some douche bags that get punked on all day at school and try taking it out on people over computers.

The MAIN point of hacking? To see if it can be done, if I'm right. Cracking.. (which what the op seemed to have happen to him) uh.. I guess to take advantage of people?

Still a bunch of losers... Id like to meet some of the basterds I've encounterd in real life...

Damn, that sucks about your account, but having all his info and knowing your own email, wouldn't it be somewhat easy to get yours back?

This type of thing is why I use complicated passwords and type them in with the utmost secrecy in secure locations. *Looks around to make sure the coast is clear* "1...2...3...4"

No other info come back from the OP, have they reported or not?

Also, the account given to him could be someone elses account, someone very much like himself. The email could have been set up or even hacked into by using the same password. Yes some people are stupid enough to use the same password for everything, even their online banking! Hacker goes to internet cafe and sends email! Trace wise, you have a stolen account that was sent to you, via a stolen email account and the email is sent from an internet cafe (who probably don't even log who is using their computers?).

Getting your account back, not a problem. Getting the person, then I doubt that will happen.

I downloaded the GWfreaks thing and also not long after my computer started to play up but I had also downloaded some other items nothing to do with GW. I only download onto a machine that has access to the internet, I do not use that machine for banking, personal email or GW. The computer is my test machine, it allows me to test any downloads and see what they are doing prior to putting them onto my main games computer or onto my business computer.

Firewall protection is one thing but you should not just sit back a relax, thinking everything is rosey! Someone mentioned, "thank you very much, I'm going to be paranoid now!" Well that is a good thing! Always assume that when you download something, that it will have a trojan or other tools attached to it. And be surprised when you don't find anything after you have scanned. Oh and just to be sure, make sure you scan the next time you switch on your computer! Some are set to activate on start up so they can make the changes needed for them to work. A quick check on your firewalls allow list (I have a printout of my allow list, as a quick reference) if anything has changed then come off line and do a thourough scan clean and kill session.

Your email is also your password, nobody in the game knows my login email, so I could tell you my password right now, it wouldn't do you much good, would it?

yep....

How many French soldiers does it take to defend Paris?

~~~~~

We don't know, but we do now!

*Grabs rifle*

Well, if the OP just happened to go to other forums etc... They use their email address, which just so happens to be the one they use for GW and not only that they set their password with the same password they use for GW!

The problem comes when you use the same user id and password for lots of systems. You increase the risk of someone finding out your password.

In this case though I am more inclined to believe that the OP had used something to "enhance" their gameplay! That may also account for the lack of response?