The makers of World of Warcraft are offering players of the online role-playing game an optional layer of security in the form of an electronic token device called Blizzard Authenticator designed to prevent unauthorized access to an account.
The lightweight device, which fits on a keyring, provides a unique, one-time six-digit numeric code that the account holder includes when logging in. It is used in addition to a password and account name.
It was offered to attendees at the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide invitational in Paris over the weekend and will be available for $6.50 through Blizzard's online store soon, according to the company.
"It's important to us that World of Warcraft offers a safe and enjoyable game environment," Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, said in a news release distributed last week. "One aspect of that is helping players avoid account compromise, so we're pleased to make this additional layer of security available to them."
World of Warcraft users have had their share of security issues. Last year, hackers were luring players to Web sites and surreptitiously downloading keylogging software onto their Windows computers through vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. The software allowed the hackers to hijack the victims' WoW accounts and sell off valuable in-game assets.
WoW players also have been targeted by a password-stealing Trojan sent via e-mail and peer-to-peer file-sharing sites.
It's unclear exactly what prompted the company to release Blizzard Authenticator. A company spokesman said on Monday that representatives were still in Paris where it was late at night and could not immediately be reached for comment.
World of Warcraft publisher Blizzard Entertainment has filed suit in U.S. federal court against a popular gold-selling operation for spamming players with ads for virtual gold, according to the Warcry Network and other sources.
In its post, Warcry's Razorwire blog quoted a Blizzard employee as saying, "We felt that it was important to share with the community just how serious we are in our efforts to combat (in-game gold spamming). Blizzard has filed a federal lawsuit against the operators of Peons4hire, a popular gold-selling organization."
Blizzard spokesperson Shon Damron, in an e-mail, confirmed the lawsuit.
It's interesting that the company is going after a small outfit like Peons4hire. After all, huge outfits like IGE are making enormous profits buying and selling WoW gold, as well as virtual assets from other online games.
As Warcry put it, "Don't worry, Blizzard and the rest of the (online game) companies still don't have the (guts) to sue (outfits like IGE) for actually selling gold."
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