Escapist article on FFXI Account Theft

[Kenji]

I also find it very funny, that the people who haven't been hacked yet are still sitting on their high-horses that they are the greatest masters of the interwebs and are invincible enough to talk shit about the people hacked. There's no full-proof way of keeping your computer safe unless it's behind a firewalled subnet, and all you do is play ffxi, nothing else, no browsing, P2P, etc. Say whatever you want, alot of people don't care to be "computer smart". That doesn't mean they are asking for trouble. They, like with most everything in life, just expect it to work. And yea, they will probably get hit with the bullshit, but SE should be ready to back up the customer.

NOBODY, and I mean, NOBODY (well, maybe with the exception of the cheaters and gilbuyers/sellers) deserves to have this happen to them.

Of course not. No matter how well you lock up your house, you can still be broken into. Same with your car. The trick is to make it difficult enough, that a would-be thief doesn't bother, and goes for the easier ones.

And it's such an easy thing, to make your computer less desirable.

Currently, if most people treated their house like they're computer, they'd keep all doors and windows open. They'd allow anyone inside. And then complain when they start finding items missing.

I tried to teach my parents safe net browsing, but theirs eyes just glazed over, and my mom said she just didn't understand. When she's the one who spent years teaching me all about how to be safe.

[Shuemue]

She borked the last computer they had so bad (an lolCompaq) we had to buy them a new one (HP this time) because the other was beyond any sort of repair. Made her swear not to do it again. 2 year later, the desktop is littered with install files for more of those stupid games. -.-;

Viruses do not destroy hardware in this day and age.

It was so virus-ridden it wasn't even worth trying to fix it. The computer was old so rather than deal with a reinstall and reformat, it was much easier to buy them a new one.

Sorry I didn't spell it out for you.

No offense, but let me get this straight...you chose to spend another $700-$1000 instead of spending 1 hour on a format/reinstall because it was easier to spend the money? It doesn't matter how fucked up a computer is due to malware/viruses/etc., a format fixes 1 to 1000000 problems in the same amount of time in one shot.

The Compaq was from freaking like 1998 for the record, it was time for an upgrade anyway (since the gdamn thing was still running Windows 98 or some shit). We actually bought the new computer for my parents as an anniversary gift- only bought the tower and it was like ~$300 iirc. I don't even think the Compaq had more than a gig of memory, thing was freaking ancient and between my mother and sister downloading random games and shit and doing stupid crap on AOL (which they still claim to need to use to "get on the internet" despite having upgraded them to cable from dial-up back in '04), the thing was better off in the trash than bothering to reformat it for umpteenth time.

So basically you're full of shit. Obsolescence != Damaged by Viruses

[Ashira]

This article was a great read, mass hackings like this were bound to happen sooner or later from rmt companies. I kind of found it funny that SE had no plan once so ever about the possibility this could happen when they started going after people who make a living rmt'ing on their game.

I kind of found it funny that SE had no plan once so ever about the possibility this could happen

SE had no plan once so ever about the

once so ever

Seriously, no one else caught that?

Also, re the reformatting of old computers, etc:

I tried to do that today. Well, not reformat, I wish I COULD reformat this computer - but it's unforunately my dad's wife's from work, so I can't touch it because of the work-related programs installed by her employer, etc.

However, she's installed a lot of random stuff and uses it as a personal computer as well.. nothing harmful really, but a lot of extraneous stuff that overlaps other stuff already on there.

Plus, they never used any browser BUT IE.. then my father gives her this AV program and that spyware program, etc... and then she turned off updates for.. well, everything.

Lately she's been bitching that she thinks my computer on the router makes hers run so slow, etc, when I know it's not her internet connection but the fact she's on a completely fragmented Windows2000 computer with dinky memory... and the fact that the most recent program my father gave her was this SpySweeper crap which didn't even do its job while it ate up all her memory, etc...

Anyway, it took all day to get it to the point I have it now, and I still haven't defragged the HDD or had SpyBot pull out all the random little things it found cuz it kept erroring out.

So yeah, I at least understand that frustration. However, if you had the option to reformat, that's much easier. ._.

[Gere]

They should just have it that when you change your credit card information, you have a 3 day wait period to log back in or do anything in game.

Sure, go QQ over that with your whining bullshit about how sometimes you have to use a different credit card or some shit, but if you were in a position of getting your account stolen, you'd be loving this.

Or have a fucking secret question + answer system instead.

I've been thinking about this a bit and I'm not sure I understand how it would help much. So the secret question keeps them from changing your password, they can still log into your account while you're asleep and steal all your gear. Wouldn't that just make it harder to prove to SE that you actually got hacked and aren't just trying to use the roll-back to dupe stuff?

[setzor]

They should just have it that when you change your credit card information, you have a 3 day wait period to log back in or do anything in game.

Sure, go QQ over that with your whining bullshit about how sometimes you have to use a different credit card or some shit, but if you were in a position of getting your account stolen, you'd be loving this.

Or have a fucking secret question + answer system instead.

I've been thinking about this a bit and I'm not sure I understand how it would help much. So the secret question keeps them from changing your password, they can still log into your account while you're asleep and steal all your gear. Wouldn't that just make it harder to prove to SE that you actually got hacked and aren't just trying to use the roll-back to dupe stuff?

every time i hear about this "you can use the system to dupe shit!", it makes me /facepalm. password change or not, what's the difference really, what's to stop your friend from changing your password when he pretends to hack your account and move shit to another friends account. A) if your friend plays he'll probably get tracked down through IP and banned, the account the shit gets moved to will probably get banned. B) the issue isn't about the duping, i can't believe people still bring that shit up, they are doing rollbacks now, shits getting duped everyday as we speak...

I know most of you who haven't lost your account yet obviously couldn't POSSIBLY understand this, but...

The issue is about LOSING your fucking ACCOUNT, which more often than not, the character means more to the player than the gear. More often than not, the RMT only steal the sellables and leave the rare/ex alone.

If i had to take a stripped down version of my character back, at this point, i would... over 6 months without your account is bullshit, especially when they've been telling you the same shit for the last 4 months with no honest to god hope in sight "it looks like the account is STILL under investigation". I'd rather hear "it's waiting to be investigated" then "it's still under investigation" because 4 months for an ISP Access check(their investigation) is a fucking LIE.

[rog]

She borked the last computer they had so bad (an lolCompaq) we had to buy them a new one (HP this time) because the other was beyond any sort of repair. Made her swear not to do it again. 2 year later, the desktop is littered with install files for more of those stupid games. -.-;

Viruses do not destroy hardware in this day and age.

there ARE viruses that can cause permanent hardware damage.

[Shuemue]

She borked the last computer they had so bad (an lolCompaq) we had to buy them a new one (HP this time) because the other was beyond any sort of repair. Made her swear not to do it again. 2 year later, the desktop is littered with install files for more of those stupid games. -.-;

Viruses do not destroy hardware in this day and age.

there ARE viruses that can cause permanent hardware damage.

Evidence?

[setzor]

She borked the last computer they had so bad (an lolCompaq) we had to buy them a new one (HP this time) because the other was beyond any sort of repair. Made her swear not to do it again. 2 year later, the desktop is littered with install files for more of those stupid games. -.-;

Viruses do not destroy hardware in this day and age.

there ARE viruses that can cause permanent hardware damage.

Evidence?

well... none that break hardware in the physical sense.

but imagine this for a second, almost all hardware has some form of software flashable bios that if tampered with or erased, that hardware would cease to function. in case of a motherboard bios, if that were to be destroyed, good luck fixing it... had that happen to a friend a few years back. we tried to flash his bios and the computer locked up during the update. motherboard wouldn't even post afterwards. had to replace the motherfucker. did it, using the windows based flashing utility.

granted, most virii don't do that because that would ultimately be pointless, and just flat out malicious. most virii nowadays are data collectors. but the point is. it is technically possible to destroy hardware at the programming level. why most flashing utilities tell you to not power off the device or interrupt the program while it does it's business. it can cause irreversible damage to the functionality of the hardware.

[Shuemue]

That's not permanent damage, technically it could be repaired back at the factory. Of course, that's not usually cost effective, but we all know the point I was making.

[setzor]

That's not permanent damage, technically it could be repaired back at the factory. Of course, that's not usually cost effective, but we all know the point I was making.

Agreed, odds are pretty damn slim. nowadays, most motherboards have protection against that shit anyway, and the virus would have to target specific motherboards because of the different chipsets and designs and what not.

In my years in the computer business, I've met alot of people who have so many problems with their computers, be it hardware or software, despite what the issue really is, they just assume the computer itself is fucked for good and just want to start over with a new one. which in her case was probably just that.

I got to thinking about it, nowadays, alot of motherboards support software over clocking, and I guess a virus could technically take control of a computers clock settings and change the "safety" threshold to something ridiculous and kick up the voltage, which would burn a CPU, but that would also have to be motherboard specific.

It all comes down to, virus writing should be punishable by DEATH :D

[konoko]

heres my one stop solution to all!

Ban China!!! (if Veoh can do it, SE can do it!)

from what i see china is not one of the demographics that SE targets with FFXI, they want NA players, Japanese players, French players, German players, and i believe Spanish players, the Chinese RMT are like the annoying fat nerd kid that no one invited to the party, and SE needs to get some nerve and tell the fat kid he is fat, and no one loves him, even if its gonna make him cry and be really awkward for a few minutes, and he will never talk to them again, the problem will be gone and everyone else can have a nice time at the party!

[The Blackrose]

I think this thread just hit a sharp turn into ZAMville.

[Raji]

Right, because there is simply no fucking way that the Chinese RMT groups can spoof their IPs to make it look like they're playing from somewhere else, and there's simply NO SUCH FUCKING THING as Korean or Russian or Indian RMT groups.

Must be nice living in a world where such complex problems have such simple solutions.

[MoogleAura]

Victory?
On February 5, 2008, Michelle got her account back. Before she let herself log on, she took her computer to a repair shop to have it scanned for viruses. They found not one, but 22 unique keylogger viruses. They cleaned up her machine, installed a full battery of protective software and instructed her only to visit protected sites. She brought it home, fired it up, and started playing.

The damage was severe. "What little money I had was gone, my armor - treasured pieces of armor given to me over the years - gone. I had no shield to use as a paladin, nor money to get another. I was quickly realizing how difficult it would be for me to play with a character not suited to perform." But she had Mali back.

Three days later, her account was hacked again...

Reminds me of those videos they would play in school...

Timmy was told not to play with the bleach under the sink...
Three days later, timmy was dead!

I don't blame her though for not wanting to go through all that again for the 3rd time. SE has come a long way since then but that's no good to her now. At least she will always have the good memories of her time in game.