Warning Regarding Unauthorized Access [Sept 4]

[Mistress Stowastiq]

From POL News. Notice how, when suspecting that we were compromised, they are recommending that we only change POL password AFTER first scanning for malicious programs.

Located under Important Notices on POL main site.

FINAL FANTASY XI Official Web Site

Sep. 4, 2009 19:35 [PDT] From: PlayOnline http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/imgs/spacer.gif

Warning Regarding Unauthorized Access http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/imgs/spacer.gif http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/imgs/info/infhr.gif

We have received reports regarding the unauthorized access of player accounts.

If you experience one of the following situations, please contact the Information Center as soon as possible.

- You receive the message "The account has been logged into from another terminal" and you are unable log back into the account.

- A character linked to the PlayOnline ID is logged in when you have not accessed the account.

In addition, if you have experienced any of the following, please change your PlayOnline password after performing a virus check to make sure you have not downloaded any malicious programs. If you have a Square Enix Account, be sure to change your Square Enix password through the Square Enix Management System located on the top right of the FINAL FANTASY XI official website.

- PlayOnline/FINAL FANTASY XI client forcibly shuts down often.

- PC applications or the peformance of the PC is unstable and has trouble turning on or shutting down.

- Anti-virus software detects a malicious program.

The use of the Square Enix Security Token is often very effective in preventing unauthorized access to game data. If you are using the Windows version

of the PlayOnline Viewer, we highly recommended using the Square Enix Security Token.

We ask that you continue to monitor and update the security of your system and Internet connection to prevent any harm caused by malicious programs.

PlayOnline Information Center
Monday through Friday
9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time
https://secure.playonline.com/supportus/index.html
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/imgs/spacer.gif

[Redivider]

i wish they would give an explanation as to why the payment servers are still saying they are busy >.>

[Mistress Stowastiq]

i wish they would give an explanation as to why the payment servers are still saying they are busy >.>

My guess would be because so many people are locked out and trying to do the secure card thing to get back in. Next major registration server maintenance isn't until the 7th tho.

[Redivider]

yeah thats gay, i spoke to an uninformed rep yesterday from SE, he just said the servers were busy, now im finding that you have to call them and get them to manually enter it, so no FFXI this weekend, until i can call them monday.

[hagun]

The problem I see is that the first few days of the month are days people are most likely to use the registration servers to input new CC info. However, that is when the servers can't be used.

I never understood the reasoning for having server registration maintenance at a time most susceptible for needing the use of those very same servers. Why not have server register maintenance in middle of the month when no one is likely to use them? Really, it's amazing how SE always ends up being counter intuitive in so much of what they do.

[Mistress Stowastiq]

My guess is they want a 30 day payment system that somewhat coincides with the beginning and ending of the month. I always get billed at the same time each month.

Outside of emergency and unscheduled maintenance, I think they have to choose a time where they can close the system and balance out the month's transactions. I do not think it is possible to do this while transactions are still being processed in the system. The ending or beginning of the month seems like logical time for doing that.

The maintenance on 7th and all of these sporadic ones are not normal routine maintenance I do not think.

[Akucaen]

oops, misread entirely. D:

[Faris]

3 of my friends got hacked last week.

this is my first mmo. Is this kind of insecurity something usual?

I remember phantasy star, i read the game got shutdown because of insecurity or so.

[bungiefan]

The problem I see is that the first few days of the month are days people are most likely to use the registration servers to input new CC info. However, that is when the servers can't be used.

I never understood the reasoning for having server registration maintenance at a time most susceptible for needing the use of those very same servers. Why not have server register maintenance in middle of the month when no one is likely to use them? Really, it's amazing how SE always ends up being counter intuitive in so much of what they do.

It's there so that you can't register while they are billing everyone, so you know the clear dividing point when the billing period is. If you activate before billing, you are paying for the full period before the billing, while after you are paying for the full period after the billing. If you could register all the time, it would be harder to figure out when is safe to reactivate.

[Mistress Stowastiq]

3 of my friends got hacked last week.

this is my first mmo. Is this kind of insecurity something usual?

I remember phantasy star, i read the game got shutdown because of insecurity or so.

Sorry to hear about your friend's accounts. I hope they get rollbacks to re- obtain their losses.
There is a thread here where people are trying to gather information on the common facts related to the hackings.

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/80487...ked-lolie.html

Lots of info there and I would suggest reading it from page one to get a balanced perspective of what people are dealing with and their solutions.
After the holiday on Monday, perhaps more info will be available once people start following the instructions of the notice in this thread. They might have new instructions for their cs reps to more efficiently process the increase of hack-related calls caused by the notice's suggestions to call in immediately.

As for phantasy star, I am not familiar with what happened. I have heard of games dieing because of economy issues but not hackings specifically, unless you consider the trickle down effect that hacking causes on the economy.

One thing for certain, if people get scared enough, the gilsellers/hacks will not have anyone to sell their stolen wares to.

Good luck to you and don't let it get to you, just use smart browsing and be aware of your account info.

[Faris]

/bow

[Mistress Stowastiq]

/bow

Did a little looksie into the Phantasy Star Online game since you made me wonder.

It would seem that one of the downfalls of the game was the content and character data, like inventory and stats being stored locally on the save card.

I believe this made it easier to duplicate the same cheats in the online game in a way similar to the offline versions and players could manipulate that character data. I read about some item and weapon duping and stealing experience from mobs in PSO. Looks as if the private servers also had a hard time with "script kiddies"/godmoding and the like.

Since that portion of the FFXI game data is stored on their servers, I don't know how to effectively compare it to PSO's exploits unless you created a hypothetical scenario wherein the existence of multiple exploits allowed wide scale, unchecked duping of gil and items. I think even the salvage bans were not of the same caliber as PSO's exploits but I could be mistaken.

When I read about the hacking that occurred in the PSO game it seemed more like exploits that allowed unfair advantage, not hacking into accounts to sell items/currency. I am also uncertain if RMT existed in that game.

Perhaps some old school PSO'ers can enlighten me. <3

[Yuffy~]

on french servers, people used to sell gameshark copies 5-10€, that was the only form of "real business" that iv ever heard in game.

not much "hacking", it was pointless. when PSO V1/V2 were out, the very same day everyone had every possible gear maxed from gameshark and such. the game didnt have the same meaning as FFXI. losing a katana +255 was nothing next to lose lets say, an armada hauberk. you could make only 1 char per memory card but you could reach lv 100/200 very fast (legit way, instant with gameshark obviously), it just didnt matter to restart (except for fully legit players obviously, but they were a tiny minority).

most common things that made people go away was the overuse of gameshark and the common player killing, which led to everyone playing with password on their groups. then in lobbies, where you could discuss with random people, 12yo kids would just spam huge chat things that would cover all your screen so it was far from a "nice" atmosphere between players.

SEGA didnt do anything against hack (well they did when you would switch your char from V1 to V2 by erasing every hacked item but that was so easy to counter that its not even worth thinking about in the end), they didnt add much content, the kind of game PSO was wasnt like a real MMO too, it wasnt as deep, everything was so easy to get/recover that it didnt mean anything, all these things led to people leaving (we can also add the monthly fee in the end, for a game like this it wasnt smart, servers or not :/).

[machiko]

One thing for certain, if people get scared enough, the gilsellers/hacks will not have anyone to sell their stolen wares to

The ones doing this hacking are not linked to the RMT selling sites other than that is where they sell to, they are lone agents using hacking to make money. If their actions kill FFXI they will simply move to another MMORPG, they don't care in the slightest.