Guild Wars 2

Recently, the Dept. of Homeland Security issued a warning about a major Java vulnerability that may expose computers to hacks and keyloggers. This may help put all conspiracy theories to rest as to why players got their accounts hacked, when they say they’re fully secure. I wanted to share this with the Guild Wars community, because all of us players should be mindful of problems like this.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/11/tech/web/java-vulnerability/index.html

Gaile and other Anet reps have stated that the servers are secure, and I’ve always believed that they would be forthcoming if there was a breach. If a forum moderator or Community Manager feels this warning should belong somewhere else, I apologize in advance.

While it’s helpful to post that to keep people aware, I doubt that is the reason why most of the hacked accounts were actually hacked. You’d be surprised how many people use the exact same login credentials (email and password) at most or every site they visit. That, and the fact that many, many, many people use passwords that are common or easy to guess means that people often get their accounts compromised.

It happens at just about every site that has login functionality. Some sites get targeted more than others when it comes to using massive lists of people’s credentials to try to gain access to their accounts. Because MMOs are an online business where the account hijackers can potentially make a lot of money, it’s inevitable that GW2 players’ accounts are going to be compromised. This isn’t a weakness at ArenaNet. It’s due to players choosing weak security.

ArenaNet employees have repeatedly told people to use strong passwords that aren’t used anywhere else. Many players aren’t going to do this, ever. Not here, and not at other sites.

I’ve tried telling my parents over and over to use strong, secure passwords. My mom’s aol account was hijacked a few weeks ago. Her password was a name followed by a number. /sigh

Disable Java Applets in your browser – problem solved. No modern web application front-ends (with very few exceptions) uses Java Applets anymore, so there is not much reason to keep them on.

P.S. I sure hope I could have said the same about Adobe Flash

MikeLewis.7496:

(not to be confused with JavaScript – Java is to JavaScript as car is to carpet).

What I learned today is that JavaScript lines the floor of Java to make it more comfortable and visually appealing.

A word of warning:
Many “mobile” applications are written in Java. So, keep in mind that many of the popular devices in use today could be running with compromised software.
Advise those who use mobile devices to take them to the related outlet for check.