Unauthorized World of Warcraft log-in attempts rise; Blizzard warns users

A rash of unauthorized login attempts to numerous World of Warcraft user accounts through the website and mobile Armory app has forced Blizzard to the auction house through the app and warn players to change their logins.

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A rash of unauthorized login attempts to numerous World of Warcraft user accounts through the website and mobile Armory app has forced Blizzard to disable access to the auction house through the app and warn players to change their logins.

"We're in the process of notifying any account holders who were not using an authenticator and whose account showed signs of unauthorized access (e.g., logging in from an unusual IP address)," Blizzard said on its official blog. "If you are among this group, you will receive an email describing how to reset your account."

In the meantime, Blizzard has temporarily disabled access to the auction house through the mobile app, and will be restoring gold and items to anyone affected by the breach.

The series lost about 1.3 million subscribers so far in the first quarter of this year from the 9.6 million announced after the launch of Mists of Pandaria expansion last year. Blizzard is planning to push out more frequent updates to keep players interested in the game.

Contributing Editor
From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 25, 2013 6:45 AM

    John Keefer posted a new article, Blizzard disables World of Warcraft mobile auction house use.

    A rash of unauthorized login attempts to numerous World of Warcraft user accounts through the website and mobile Armory app has forced Blizzard to the auction house through the app and warn players to change their logins.

    • reply
      June 25, 2013 8:04 AM

      That's actually quite interesting. Has this been going on longer and has Blizzard cared about this only now, due to falling subscriber numbers?
      Or is this something new, in which case, what are the motivations from the crackers for doing this right now?

    • reply
      June 25, 2013 8:07 AM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        June 25, 2013 8:40 AM

        The amount of gold spam that goes on across B.Net is ridiculous. You log in to SC2 and you see 30 friend invites with gold spam messages for Diablo 3 or World of Warcraft. I think these problems have been going on for a very long time and I think for the most part they quietly deal with them.

        • reply
          June 25, 2013 9:57 AM

          Yeah, its terrible in diablo 3. Back when I played world of warcraft, during wrath of the lich king, gold spam in wasnt nearly as bad back then.

    • reply
      June 25, 2013 8:24 AM

      I wonder if some other company's data got leaked and the cracked table is being used to try to get access to Blizzard accounts.

      BTW, don't use the same passwords on multiple sites, people.

      • reply
        June 25, 2013 8:57 AM

        Probably, this has happened before.

    • reply
      June 25, 2013 3:53 PM

      Funny, unauthorized logins for Guild Wars 2 are referred to as hacks:

      "It may be time to gird your loins and beef up your passwords again, as yet another online game's security has been compromised."
      http://www.shacknews.com/article/75656/guild-wars-2-hack-impacts-11000-accounts

      And yet when it's WoW:

      "A rash of unauthorized login attempts"

      • reply
        June 25, 2013 3:57 PM

        The news stories are using the terminology from the developer's own statements.

        • reply
          June 25, 2013 5:18 PM

          "Hackers have big lists of email addresses and passwords that they've harvested from malware and from security vulnerabilities in other games and web sites, and they're systematically testing Guild Wars 2 looking for matching accounts."

          hardly qualifies as a "Guild Wars 2 hack" and

          "yet another online game's security has been compromised."

          It's just shitty sensationalist reporting.

      • reply
        June 25, 2013 5:21 PM

        ...ok?

        • reply
          June 25, 2013 5:57 PM

          And have you ever noticed how black olives are sold in cans, meanwhile green olives are sold in jars

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