The truth about Battle.net merging security

#0 - Dec. 16, 2009, 10:52 p.m.

Well I have been researching the forums throughly after the events that took place last night and today and thought I would take a moment to share with everyone. I have played WoW on and off for 5 years now and have NEVER had a problem with my password security or anything of the nature. About 6 months ago (this was around patch 3.1) I decided to step away from the game for a little bit and yesterday I decided I would install WoW on my BRAND NEW PERSONALLY BUILT PC THAT I JUST BUILT and reactivate my WoW subscription for the 7 day period Blizzard was offering. I literally just got done building this desktop installed WoW from all the way to Lich King and began using Blizzards installer to get the game up to date with patchs after the game was done installing to my surprise when I tried to log in it said that my account needs to be merged with Battle.net... I said to myself I really don't like this idea but sure whatever I have to do. I open my browser for the FIRST TIME and go to battle.net to merge the account so I can play no problem works fine I log in and within minutes I am figuring out how to use my DKs talent points that have been reset. I am having a blast and enjoying some of the new 5 mans and in fact I stay up all night till about 6 am when I decided to log off.

So this afternoon I wake up open WoW to log-in and my password isn't working (At this point I am thinking you have got to be kidding me) so I try the few other passwords I might possibly use (mind you the ones I use are a very secure with #s, letters, and CAPS all mixed in) and nothing works. So I go to the WoW website to reset my password and as I am opening my email to click on the link I noticed my password has been reset by someone at 11 am at this point its 2 pm. Anyway I reset my password log in to find that my level 80 DK has just up and vanished DELETED/GONE/NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. I have now been in touch with Blizzard support VIA phone and email and will await my character to be restored (hopefully with everything I had and what was in my guild bank) but this is just depressing and upsetting and I would be a fool to even officially reactivate my WoW subscription at this point.

TO BLIZZARD: STOP DISCOUNTING THE FACT THAT YOUR BELOVED BATTLE.NET WEBSITE IS SECURE AS YOU THINK YOU KNOW FOR A FACT THE HACKERS ARE WORKING HARDER THEN YOU TO CRACK YOUR SECURITY THEN YOU ARE TO KEEP THEM OUT. I AM WELL AWARE THAT THESE HACKERS OFFICIALLY DO THIS STUFF FOR A LIVING IT IS A JOB IN SOME COUNTRIES (LEGITIMATE ONES WHO GET TAXED BY THEIR GOVERNMENT ETC...)

It is absolutely 100% IMPOSSIBLE THAT I HAVE ANY VIRUS OR KEYLOGGER ON MY PC THAT I LITERALLY JUST BUILT MYSELF AND INSTALLED WINDOWS 7 ON WITHOUT EVEN GOING TO ANY WEBSITES. I AM BEHIND AN ENCRYPTED AND FIREWALLED VERIZON FIOS ROUTER AS WELL. I HAVE NOT TOLD ONE PERSON IN THE ENTIRE WORLD WHAT MY PASSWORDS ARE AND NOT EVEN MY WIFE KNOWS NOR HAVE I EVER WROTE IT DOWN

#50 - Dec. 16, 2009, 11:34 p.m.

I'm sorry to hear about your account, Kelfin. However, I can assure you that our Battle.net system has not been compromised. Despite your certainty that your computer was not the cause of this issue, I ask that you please consider looking into a few of the computer/account security suggestions available on the following sticky post:

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

Additionally, while your World of Warcraft account was only recently attached to your Battle.net account, it appears that the Battle.net account itself was created over a year ago. Therefore, if you have ever logged into your Battle.net account from a unsecured computer and did not change the password for the account after doing so, it is possible that this information could have been compromised during that time.

Of course, I can only speculate as to how this individual may have gained access to your account, but it is in our best interest to help you identify the cause so that you may take the appropriate steps to help prevent further issues from occurring.