World of Warcraft Security Issues

Written by:  • Edited by: Benjamin Sell
Published Dec 22, 2009

World of Warcraft accounts are sensitive in nature, and have to be protected. There are a lot of pressing security concerns in World of Warcraft that have to been attacked. Here is a guide to some of the most important security issues, including key logging, credit card theft, and other issues.

Protecting Your World of Warcaft Security

Your World of Warcraft account is a piece of property that you pay for as well as put time into. As the virtual economy of World of Warcraft develops you will see that your account and achievements are worth real money to people. In this way it is important to focus on protecting your World of Warcraft account.

Providing security for your World of Warcraft account can seem difficult and confusing at first, but there are some very important security issues that you should consider specifically.

Key Logging and Trojans

Many of the issues that you will find with World of Warcraft security are the same ones that remain relevant in overall computer information security.

Since your World of Warcraft account is dependent on a password system, it is important to protect yourself from key logging, which is when a program records your keystrokes. This can come from computer trojans that give people remote access to certain parts of your computer.

The best way to protect yourself against this kind of possible breach of your World of Warcraft account is to increase the security level on your computer in general. This means including a firewall that will prevent remote access by World of Warcraft account thieves.

Trojans, which come in the form of .exe files, will often be offered as some type of World of Warcraft cheat. Make sure to avoid these as no .exe file will be a legitimate World of Warcraft cheat. To combat trojans even further you can use a combination of different software that can detect and destroy these infiltrators. Spybot Search and Destroy has conventionally been used to look for "spyware" as it relates to pop-up advertising, but Spybot will also scan your system thoroughly looking for software that could be dangerous.

Spybot-Search-and-Destroy
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SUPERantispyware is a similar shareware application that works like Spybot Search and Destroy, except it is consistently updated to respond to new adware, viruses, and trojans. Lavasoft's Ad-Aware is also a good scanning application, though it is not usually going to be as efficient as either Spybot Search and Destroy or SUPERantispyware.

All three together will give you the computer protection you need to fight off any attempts at key logging.

World of Warcraft and Battle.net

Battle.Net
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If you are using Battle.net you you have a lot of control over your account, especially since it has such a long tradition dating all the way back to the original incarnation of Diablo. If you play World of Warcraft along with other Blizzard titles like the upcoming Starcraft II, then your Battle.net account is going to be a good option.

Battle.net has many of the same security issues as World of Warcraft. It is important to remain discreet in communication over Battle.net with other players and to not give out World of Warcraft account information.

If you have an iPhone you can use the Battle.net Mobile Authenticator, which is one of the several free World of Warcraft iPhone applications. This is going to be a good option for those who want to continue authentication even when away from their home computer.

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