[Hacked] Question about format

D

Ddrakon

Veteran XV
I have never been hacked before so I guess I wasn't as cautious as I used to be.

They changed my email and WoW passwords and slapped an authenticator on my account. Trying to recover both now.

I'm going to format to be safe and I was wondering what files are safe to backup? I assume that .txt files and pictures are okay, what about songs?

Btw I have a feeling that downloading addons from Curse is what did it, be careful with that.
 
Ddrakon said:
I have never been hacked before so I guess I wasn't as cautious as I used to be.

They changed my email and WoW passwords and slapped an authenticator on my account. Trying to recover both now.

I'm going to format to be safe and I was wondering what files are safe to backup? I assume that .txt files and pictures are okay, what about songs?

Btw I have a feeling that downloading addons from Curse is what did it, be careful with that.
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Songs are fine. Txt is fine but you need to make sure that in your folder options you have "Hide known file extensions" off, because a lot of people will give you a file called coolwowinfo.txt.exe and Windows if that option is selected will show "coolwowinfo.txt" even though its an executable.

You can tell the difference based on what the icon of the file looks like of course, but I would imagine the same people who follow links in emails that point to wow-security-forlife.com or blizzarda.com just because the link shows blizzards site wouldn't look at the difference anyways.

JPG's can be embedded with a virus, but a normal picture viewer isn't going to "execute" the code, you would have to another virus that will try to execute the code in the picture which the odds of you getting a virus that is even built to do that, then getting a jpg that has the code embedded in it are pretty fucking slim.

Music should be fine. Might help to list addons, but to be honest unless you are downloading really obscure addons I doubt that was it. Any addon that has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times will have had enough scrutiny from the tons of users it has to weed out any possible key logging I would think. Then again, I don't have a lot of faith in man kind sooooo take that with a grain of salt.
 
Same happened to me. I just emailed blizzard to get it back. I have no clue how it happened, my only suspicion is when I used windows to play for a bit rather than mac and I just got a shitty keylogger or some bullshit.
 
I had my account hacked for the first time back a few months ago. First time I've ever had any account on any game hacked actually. Still have no idea how they managed it. I'm pretty positive that I didn't have a key logger. I rarely even go on sites dealing with WoW as it is. Other than the occasional look on MMO Champion. :shrug:

It's been fine since then though. I made a much more complex password, but that's it.
 
Everyone should get the Blizz Authenticator. $15 (or was it $10?) and no chance of ever being hacked again.
 
Fool said:
authenticators can still be hacked
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This isn't completely accurate.

You can still be attacked despite having an authenticator, but you will know it as soon as it happens, and you can have someone else log on for you immediately after and virtually eliminate the chance that anything happens to your account.
 
Fool said:
authenticators can still be hacked
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The only one that has been successful was a man-in-the-middle virus which even then only gives the hacker 45 seconds before the code is useless.

Other than that, these key fobs are pretty resilient to unauthorized access attempts. There's a reason they are used in areas much more secure outside of WoW.
 
Have they devised a reasonable method for the instance when your authenticator battery runs out and you need to buy a new one? It's fine when you have it and what not but how much of a pain is it to get access back when it inevitably dies? Seems pretty shitty if it does and you are essentially locked out of all of Blizzard's stuff while you wait for a new one in the mail or even to get the old one off your account since the battery's now dead.
 
If the battery runs out or it just stops working you call them and have them remove the device from your account. All you need is the serial number off of your authenticator and know the answer to your secret question. It's really not that bad.

Also i'm pretty sure the battery in the authenticator last for over 4+ years.
 
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fishbulb said:
If the battery runs out or it just stops working you call them and have them remove the device from your account. All you need is the serial number off of your authenticator and know the answer to your secret question. It's really not that bad.

Also i'm pretty sure the battery in the authenticator last for over 4+ years.
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That could be bad, I'm not sure I even remember my secret question answer... As for the life, I'm not sure. One of the SC2 commentators (think it was Husky) originally got his from Blizzcon (the first batch I think) and he said in a replay his died and had to get a new one.
 
Well you not remembering your secret question answer is your own problem. I've had mine since they released on the blizzard store and it's still running strong. As with all things in life that you buy, there is the possibility of getting a lemon.
 
Yeah I know, I just remember I had to answer a few of those for very old email/website accounts and the quesiton made me go, "Uh, WTH?" Just hope my WoW account isn't the same thing.
 
I'm pretty sure Blizzard's servers were compromised not too long ago. Everyone knows they've had their front page hijacked a couple times now.

I say that because I wasn't playing WoW at all for about half a year, and then I get an email saying my account was banned for malicious activity. Turns out someone hacked it and used it for a month before getting banned (but how did they "keylog" my info when I hadn't played in forever, unless they did so before I quit playing and just waited that long to use it?).

I attached an authenticator to it and canceled it again and haven't had a problem since. :shrug:
 
I've scanned both PC's I play wow with with multiple different AV's and have yet to find anything. Only thing that brings up suspicion is the curse client, as's was mentioned already once in this thread. I got my account after a week of downtime and used that time to buy an authenticator. I ende up getting the authenticator the same day my stuff was restored. And it's not like i had an easy password either. Mixedcase with numbers and other symbols (!@#$%^&*). Still no clue on how it was hacked.
 
Stinkfist said:
I've scanned both PC's I play wow with with multiple different AV's and have yet to find anything. Only thing that brings up suspicion is the curse client, as's was mentioned already once in this thread. I got my account after a week of downtime and used that time to buy an authenticator. I ende up getting the authenticator the same day my stuff was restored. And it's not like i had an easy password either. Mixedcase with numbers and other symbols (!@#$%^&*). Still no clue on how it was hacked.
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I think Blizzard was compromised as someone said. I didn't play one of my accounts for a year, never even logged into it in that time other then when they did the whole battle.net account conversion.

I never follow links in my email and yet in Jan of this year my account got hacked. I found out because I had decided to come back in Feb and there was an auth on my account. I did some research on the forums and in that same month it seemed like there was an explosion of "hacked" account complaints.

That or someone on the inside is selling account info to farmers :tinfoil:
 
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