In Guild Wars 2 dark forces are lurking; the security expert from ArenaNet gives valuable tips on how to avoid account theft and all its unpleasant consequences.
On the official Facebook page of the game, an ArenaNet employee admits that more gold sellers than ever are invading the realm united in mega-servers. Hackers are working harder than ever to steal the hard-earned gold from the loyal citizens of Tyria. Players are surely noticing the increased gold spam as well. With the rise in gold sellers, there have also been more hacks reported. From Facebook, readers are directed to the head of account security at ArenaNet, Chris Cleary.
A universal password is no longer sufficient
He explains in a forum post, that most players have taken the security lessons of the past to heart. They have a good and secure password that they then use for every purpose. However, one single password is no longer enough, according to Cleary. At ArenaNet, they observe how accounts are specifically tested with a certain password from various IPs. Then the password is attempted with some obvious variations and then quickly switched to a new account name.
The hackers try out hacked passwords from other games because they assume that players use the same password for every purpose. Hence Cleary’s urgent call: Use a password for GW 2 that you do not use for anything else, especially not for the related email account.
ArenaNet is working on better account protection
Furthermore, it is important to verify the email address and to follow the usual precautions against phishing and account theft: Do not share the password with anyone and do not click on the content of emails from unfamiliar senders.
But not only the users are doing something for their account security, ArenaNet is also staying proactive. A blacklist has been active for a while, containing passwords that are known to have fallen into the hands of hackers. These passwords can no longer be used, regardless of the account name. As a result, ArenaNet has managed to reduce the number of hacked accounts from 1.5% to 0.1%, according to Cleary.
Moreover, it is important to destroy the hackers’ market for gold, which is why Cleary urges not to purchase gold from gold seller sites. In Guild Wars 2, they learned from the first Guild Wars title and allowed the legal exchange of real money for the virtual currency. They are doing everything possible to make the game and accounts even safer.
Ultimately, however, there is no complete protection. Guild Wars 2 is a popular game, and every popular game has to deal with hackers.
