Why do game accounts get hacked? Why would another person actually make an effort to take control of another’s account? Most of the game providers agree: Greed. “Account hacking is rampant in any popular online game.”
“Though there are a lot of reasons why accounts get hacked the primary reason is that other players want to own another user’s account its character, and all the items in it.” Methods of Stealing “These players usually play in the same gaming cafes as their victims and usually place a ‘key logger’ on the unit their victim will use.” A key logger is a program that remembers all the strokes done on a keyboard and transmits the data to the hacker.
Figuring out usernames and passwords from the strokes is a matter of common sense. “Another method they use is the one called ‘eye-logger’ wherein the hacker will carefully watch the key pressed as their victims logs their account password.” Though that sounds archaic it is effective, and ultimately untraceable. Scramming where hackers pose as game administrators, or phishing sites which offer freebies are also prevalent. Phishing websites pose as “official site” for the sole reason of farming usernames and passwords. There are also the fakes who sell their accounts to others for real money and then reports that his account was hacked so as to get both the money and the account.
Online games receive an average of ten to fifteen hacked account reports daily. An ounce of prevention is the main defense, forewarning and reminding their players to safeguard their accounts via reminders in –game, on the website, and in the community forums. Victims get assistance from Online games through their “hacked account recovery process.” Account ownership is verified by the account registration form. If ownership is proven we reset the account password and email.” In order to educate the players about account responsibility and prevent abuse, an account can only be recovered so many times. Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game MMORPGs are the biggest target for ‘hackers’ unlike casual games. Casual games you play the character-you have fun whereas in MMO you have to invest your time. And as everyone knows time is gold. The most prevalent type of hack we get is identity theft. More often than not, the information is compromised by the player himself because he hired a pilot or he shared the account. Usually there is no written contract or binding agreement, but even if there was, Online games can’t honor that because all proprietary information, anything that pertains to the product is still owned by the Publisher and Developer.
According to the EULA, if you create an account, even if you name it after yourself and even if you pay for game time, the name of your character, the inventory is still the developers. What you are actually purchasing is the right or privilege to use the software. So it is a misconception to think, this is my account, I can lend it. It’s really like a credit card, and if it gets stolen and someone uses is fraudulently, you don’t get mad at the bank. You lost it, but what the bank will do is they’re going to reverse the charges as soon as it’s proven that you didn’t actually buy it. The victims often deny they had any fault. But after while they realize that they shared the account or they visited a fraudulent or bogus phishing website where they ‘logged in for a freebie or a cheat. That or their computer also runs per sharing software or they frequent pornography sites, both of which are favored launch pads of hacking attacks.
When five people said they had tickets for plus items and armor. After finding out that there was no such thing online developers then investigated. But after checking if they were legit gamers, they had to go through the departments to see if there were any promos we didn’t know about. Turns out it was a bogus site. The gamers were rightly furious but even I would have reacted the same way.
So safe practices are posted in the forums and are part of the guidelines. But gamers who want to get ahead still fall prey to these sites. Developers have policies in place, which has a specific policies regarding hacking. Characters are banned after sufficient information that makes it beyond reasonable doubt. If it’s been proven that you were a victim, you have a choice of two items that can be returned to you based on the records of your character. But this is only once per lifetime of the account. Developers and Publishers can only influence how you use your account and make you aware of the modus of the hackers via the forums. Online games also have GMs that monitor these forums 24/7 for any dubious links. There is also Game Guard, a third party program that prevents key logging to some extent and encrypts the transmission of your user name and password to our server. It takes a lot of effort to take another person’s data. It cannot be accidental or merely just for kicks. There is always premeditation so think of that.
(4.18 out of 5)
Gerald