Blizzard's WoW Authenticator to be revealed at WWI
by Ross Miller 
{ Jun 26th 2008 at 10:00PM }
The purpose of the dongle is to prevent keyloggers and other instances of account theft. We doubt it's the big suprise, but it's certainly good news for those worried about security. More information can be found via the FAQ.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
BigD145 @ Jun 26th 2008 10:05PM
It won't last long. Dongles can be circumvented.
Chase @ Jun 26th 2008 10:20PM
*circumcised
Tiago @ Jun 27th 2008 9:06AM
It is not a dongle, this is just joystiq speculating and failing.
Just take a read at http://www.blizzard.com/us/press/080626-auth.html.
It's a small device with a button on it. It doesn't attach to your computer.
While there are usb security tokens, the press release says the kind they are using is a button + screen one.
When you press the button it generates a single use code that you use to login. That way, even if someone gets your password, that person will not be able to login without the token generator.
Would you like to know more? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_token
Shaun @ Jun 26th 2008 10:10PM
What a giant waste of money.
äsdf @ Jun 26th 2008 10:53PM
GOOD LORD! $6.50 for a nice reassuring boost of security to ensure that your 200+ hours of game time don't go down the drain. Ridiculous.
The price is justified. It is good to see Blizzard taking some action against such threat before they become too widespread and give the game a bad rep to potential players.
Remember, you aren't required to purchase this. If you want the extra security go for it.
ben @ Jun 27th 2008 3:04AM
I'd say 75% of their stolen accounts are because of people sharing their password with friends and guildies. An option for separate passwords for game and administrative login would do far more than this for account security.
Will @ Jun 26th 2008 10:11PM
What if you lose it? Or your cat gnaws on the cord? Or you want to log in at a friend's house? =/
Titanium_Orchid @ Jun 26th 2008 10:19PM
I'll support anything that gives me a dongle.
Will @ Jun 26th 2008 10:22PM
Slut.
Henry @ Jun 26th 2008 10:24PM
nom.
Psyclerk @ Jun 26th 2008 10:45PM
If you read the FAQ, it says that you can carry the dongle with you wherever you'd like to use your account. Just need a free USB port. And if you lose it, you just call and verify your info with their billing department (probably need the credit card # you pay with, or other billing info). Not sure how that will work with people who use game time cards.
Geist @ Jun 26th 2008 10:19PM
Come ooooon DRM installer go go go.
Residentevil72501 @ Jun 26th 2008 10:37PM
Anyone with any common sense can easily never get keylogged lol no need for this.
Wes @ Jun 26th 2008 10:59PM
You sir, are an idiot. No offense but there was a recent security update released designed to prevent keyloggers that were meant to steal passwords from online games.
Within 12 hours of its release, 500,000 keyloggers had been removed from different Windows Systems. 500,000. So at least 0.5% of the population's Home pcs probably in the first tweleve hours alone. Thats of course only the ones the update caught. It didn't rid them all.
There's probably at least an equal number out there that wasn't removed or more. A suspect at least one of those 1,000,000 people or more have common sense.
LaughingTarget @ Jun 26th 2008 11:32PM
That's because they're the morons using a naked OS. Keyloggers don't get on properly secured systems and are removed by anti-spyware software easily. The typical account theft comes from those assuming their unprotected PC is a safe environment. Hackers don't bother trying to circumvent third party security. There are too many combinations to worry about and the returns for the effort are almost nil. The volume of standard Windows users on WoW is high enough to not bother trying to get past your current security setup.
Majormauser @ Jun 26th 2008 10:41PM
The sword of a thousand truths !!!!
Twist @ Jun 26th 2008 10:44PM
Screw just making a dongle, they should make it a flash drive with a portable copy of WoW on it so you can play anywhere without installing WoW. I don't even like WoW but even I think that would be cool.
Psyclerk @ Jun 26th 2008 10:59PM
Ever run anything off a flash drive? It's not exactly high performance, especially if it's FAT formatted. Also, there are three data files in the WoW /data directory that are a total of 6GB+ alone. The entire WoW footprint is a little over 8GB on my machine (and I haven't played in months, so I'm missing some patches), and that's without any addons or test realm stuff. That puts it out of range of most flash drives' capacity.
On the other hand, WoW doesn't do any fancy registry stuff when installing, so if you do happen to have a high capacity flash drive, you can drop your WoW folder from /Program Files on there and use that to backup/install on any machine you want. Just drop the folder in the right place, create a shortcut if you want then play. Just FYI.
knighty @ Jun 26th 2008 10:44PM
Maple Story has a pin you have to put in by clicking the mouse on a keyboard that randomly orders itself. I think that's a pretty damn good idea, better than this.
Superstar90 @ Jun 26th 2008 10:51PM
WWI? You are late by like 94 years Blizzard. Jeez, nobody can commit to release dates nowadays? (and apparently in the past too).
I have never had my account hacked in any online game. I have been an idiot and given my pass away, but I never get keyloggers and stuff. BTW, I gave my pass away when I was like 10 on Habbo. I thought the guy would give me credits and duplicate my furni (which was one brown plasto).
:/
NoHitHair @ Jun 27th 2008 6:42AM
Joystiq has been talking nonstop over the past few days about Blizzard and their mysterious and as yet unexplained involvement in World War I.
Are you trying to pin the Archduke on them? What's your angle?
Superstar90 @ Jun 28th 2008 12:16AM
Let's just say without Blizzard, Franz Ferdinand wouldn't just be a British band...
Anticrawl @ Jun 26th 2008 10:58PM
Using a virtual keyboard is probably more effective than pluggin some silly dongle in.
J.Goodwin @ Jun 26th 2008 10:59PM
Dongle. Awesome, remember the Atari 800's dongles?
I remember the dongle that you used to need to plug in to use the word processor.
egon0119 @ Jun 26th 2008 11:12PM
The Blizzard page says _nothing_ about a USB dongle. More likely than not it's going to be an RSA SecurID device. http://www.rsa.com/node.aspx?id=1158
Kyle @ Jun 27th 2008 5:57AM
After reading this, it immediately dawned on me what this must be : The YubiKey by Yubico.
http://www.yubico.com/products/yubikey/
Pravus @ Jun 27th 2008 11:13AM
My god people, pay attention and read before you post.
IT DOES NOT PLUG INTO THE COMPUTER.
This is a device with an LCD dsiplay that gives you a series of numbers when the button is pressed. The number changes every once in a while (typically 30-60 seconds. Each one will be unique and not have the same sequence of numbers. they are time sync'd with a server so blizzard knows what number should be on the display when you try to login.
This type of device is being used by many companies including government contractors across the globe for high secrity remote access. Its proven technology. I used a similar device when i worked for Lockheed Martin if you know what that is.
Also the typical battery life on these things is like 5-8 years.
Mike @ Jun 27th 2008 8:10PM
So, just don't go on any space journeys at relativistic speeds and you'll be fine?