Account Restoration... How long?

#0 - June 18, 2010, 7:18 a.m.

Okay, I'm sorry- I'm sure everyone has their hands full at blizzard with all of the account hacking into's that have been going on. But seriously.

I spoke to a GM the same day, almost 2-3 hours after my account was hacked. I gave them the specifics, listed items, what happened, etc. When my account was hacked a year ago, I got my stuff back within 1-2 days, and it's been almost a full week.

I told them the times my account password was changed, the GM even said that it was confirmed it wasn't me because a different IP Address was used.

I understand that I'm not the center of the universe and I'm not naive enough to think that my $15 dollars a month means anything to a company that gets millions each month, but how much more specific do I need to be? How many items does someone need to list for the GM's to be able to take care of what happens then and there?

Seriously, I know this is just a rant, but why isn't anything ever done about this hacking situation? If Blizzard did something to fix this then we'd see a noticeable decline.

How far does Blizzard even go to fix this issue? Is the account that all the gold and items transferred to banned? Or do you stop at the first character transferred? Or do you go all the way to IP's like the company should?

My main question, is why is this taking so long compared to a year ago, and what in the long run is being done to make sure that these hackers aren't getting away with it?

Orlyia

#5 - June 18, 2010, 7:54 a.m.

An individual restoration may not take very long at all.

Some do, however, which is why our queues fluctuate and why it's hard to give anything but an estimate based on current times at any given time.

You do have a petition open. It's 4 days 17 hours old right now.

The current wait time is on the high side of 10 days, say 10-12 right now.

Once the folks that are in line the 6 days leading up to when yours was reported have had their investigations done, they will be more than happy to look into yours as well.

In the meantime, you mentioned this happening before. Did you find the cause of this? If not - it WILL keep happening.

If they can....they WILL be back, that is very likely.

This sticky may be useful.

Account Hacked? Security Issue? Look Here!
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=24702231244

You may also want to look into getting an authenticator for your account. It's no substitute for good security habits, but it will help keep them out of your WoW account.

Blizzard Store
http://us.blizzard.com/store/browse.xml?f=c:6

Mobile Authenticator
http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=26109

Orlyia

#8 - June 18, 2010, 8:10 p.m.

The investigation involves reconstructing and undoing the damages - often chasing down where stolen items/gold went.

And I truly wish folks would stop spreading what pretty much amounts to urban legend about authenticators.

While nothing is 100%. Are they as close to 100% as you can get on the internet - yes, it's the technology banks use.

The VAST majority of people that 'claim' they had one and got compromised - didn't actually have one, or what they really mean is they were compromised and one was ADDED, not the same thing at all.

Orlyia

#16 - June 18, 2010, 8:53 p.m.

Q u o t e:

When I was hacked a year ago, I told a GM like 3 items that were on one of my characters and all the stuff that was taken, spread out across 3 characters was restored by the next day. All I had to do was prove I was who I said I was via Drivers License.

I'll gladly do it again if it means by Sunday I'll have my stuff back.

These things tend to go in cycles, Logically - and it's all driven by 'gold sales'. Before summer is usually a busy time for this, they are trying to stockpile for all the illicit gold sales they hope to get over summer vacation.

Sad, but true. Folks, don't buy gold. Don't let your friends buy gold. If there were no buyers, there would be no need to ravage accounts, they'd simply have no business. If you've ever been compromised and hear someone spouting that it 'doesn't hurt anyone', I do hope you'll inform them differently - it hurts MANY people and guilds.

It wasn't all that long ago that queue was at under 12 hours. As I said, it goes in cycles.

Orlyia

#21 - June 18, 2010, 9:03 a.m.

We get to everyone as quickly as possible, Logically.

At times -the lines are longer than others.

This is one of those times.

The way to prevent this sort of interruption in gameplay is absolutely preventative steps.

Did you find out how they got hold of your password and ID?

Orlyia

#23 - June 18, 2010, 9:08 a.m.

Q u o t e:

Even if they don't have a main account something similar is being used. There's ultimately going to be one account or once character that has more gold transfers then the rest.

And please list the games that you worked on, proof would be amazing too- Because it would be nice to know someone who worked on a problem with a game that has similar security issues as to WoW.

Logically, WoW doesn't have security issues. Many of our players, however, do.

That's why we developed the authenticator. To provide another line of defense players can use to help protect themselves.

Orlyia

#26 - June 18, 2010, 9:12 a.m.

Q u o t e:

Everything's been fixed and changed accordingly.

Not all of these cases are as straight forward as you GM's seem to think though. Take for instance the guy that posted professing his computer was safer than the White House, still they got him.

And I've heard enough horror stories about Authenticators to know they don't always work the way you want them to.

Authenticators work wonderfully well in almost all cases. I've heard some of those stories myself, don't take what your 3rd cousin's, aunt's, podiatrist's nurse is supposedly to have said as gospel.

You can have your account compromised and your system security be fine. There are MANY other ways they lie, trick, scam or steal that information. Thinking you are safe because your system is secure doesn't acknowledge those other dangers.

Phishes are VERY popular and apparently, pretty effective. That has zero to do with malware.

Orlyia

#35 - June 18, 2010, 9:32 a.m.

Q u o t e:

I'm happy that you got your items and gold back in a timely fashion where as numerous other people haven't.

One of the best ways to make sure you're not forgotten is through pestering. If it was possible, I would be on a phone for 12 hours going as high as I could in the food chain to get this fixed in one day.

Actually, that's not true.

Flooding the queues, or emails or phone lines can potentially complicate this if you have in multiple requests and different Specialists are addressing them, it's happened with ill luck in timing that each think the other has the issue. That can backfire, not often, but sometimes spectacularly :)

Checking up is fine, and I certainly understand requests to confirm something is in queue, that's not a problem at all, but taking up our representatives time is actually counter-productive in an effort to jockey for better position in an established queue you are already in.