#0 - Oct. 10, 2010, 7:48 p.m.
I've had my WoW account since the game launched in 2004 and never had any kind of problem before. Last night at 4:31am I received an email stating my password had been changed. At first I assumed it was another phishing scam and ignored it. A few hours later, I tried to log in and found my password had indeed been changed. I immediately followed the account recovery instructions and was able to reset my password using my security question and personal info. When I logged in, as I feared, all my items and money were gone. I submitted the GM ticket and 30 minutes later, I had everything restored.
My conundrum here is this :
- I've run a full-system virus scan with MS Security Essentials which turned up nothing. Zero threats on the virus front.
- I've run a full-system malware scan with Malware Bytes which also turned up nothing. Zero malware.
- I repied to NO phishing scams, gmail is great at filtering them out so I rarely even see them. When I do, I know what they are and delete them.
- I have never installed a WoW add-on that self-installed. I use Bartender and HealBot, both downloaded from their official sites and installed manually.
- I use the NoScript add-on in Firefox, and I don't believe I have visited any nefarious websites that would have been able to gain access to my account info (I don't buy gold or characters and never visit those sites).
- No one else has ever had access to my password. I live with my girlfriend who has less than zero interest in MMO or PC-based games (I can get her to play Wii occasionally LOL), and no one else has access to this computer. The ONLY place my WoW password is written down (aside from in my own head) is in an encrypted note application on my smartphone which you would need two separate PIN codes to get into. My phone is always on or very near me, so I doubt greatly the info came from there. (on a side note, I have other more sensitive passwords in the same encrypted app on my phone which would have yielded a much greater monetary gain to a thief than my WoW account, and none of those accounts have been compromised).
So, that being said, how did this happen? I've wracked my brain trying to think of how my information could have been nabbed by an account thief. Obviously it has, so there is something I'm missing here.
Anyone have any other ideas? I'd REALLY like to nail this down because it's bothering the hell out of me. I've always been bulldog-ish about my personal information and I can't just let this slide.
I've ordered an authenticator from Blizzard, hopefully it will be here soon. Until then, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Thanks in advance for any advice on this,
Jeff
