My account was hacked -- Add ons to blame?

#31 - July 28, 2009, 5:34 p.m.

Q u o t e:
People tend to assume that it is their gaming computer that has to be infected when they find their account has been compromised. Many times that is the case, but many times, it is not. Some things to ask yourself:

1. Have you ever, even a single time, logged into the forums, game client or your email from a different PC? School, work, library, internet cafe, parent's house, friend's house, neighbor, cousin?

2. Do you use the same login name and/or password on a guild site, message board, community website, fansite, etc?

3. Are you sure your email account is secure? One of the first ways a hacker gets into your WoW account is through your email account. They usually won't change your email password, but they will delete the change password emails so you are not aware what is going on.

4. Have you perhaps fallen for a phishing attempt? Any emails saying your account is under review for being sold or traded, or links to site promising free mounts, gold, experience, etc. are all fake. If you have input any of your information into these sites, you have most likely caused the compromise.

5. Have you ever let anyone else log into your account, even once to "try it out", or to see if they will like it? Account sharing, even with spouses, brothers, friends and cousins is a big mistake, and as you will read here on almost a daily basis, causes nothing but trouble.

6. Do you use any auto-updaters for your AddOns, like the Curse client, or WoWMatrix, etc.? These programs in and of themselves are usually OK, but some people believe that they received corrupted downloads of various Addons that led to their account being compromised using these programs. Downloading each AddOn you use manually, while maybe slightly more inconvenient, is much safer.

Computer Security Recommendations
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=1778038509&sid=1