On
February 8th around 5pm we will be updating any password that is over a year old.
We did this in October to start a clean slate when it comes to account sharing and any other account compromise that may have occurred to the RO accounts. Since then 10,500 accounts have changed the passwords back to ancient, potentially compromised passwords.
Each time a player has their account logged into and damaged by surprise, it causes numerous issues. Of course the emotional and the game play effects are very high, and then the time it takes the CS team to research and perform whatever assistance we can. In the best of cases it is just time spent, and the player is back to neutral, but the worst case scenario can be there is nothing possible to assist and the player is left with an account that is damaged because of their negligence.
We do NOT like leaving players in a damaged state, but we have to draw a line somewhere of personal responsibility for the account information well being. With that in mind we are going to perform these password changes.
We are emailing all accounts that fit the criteria of using really old passwords on the accounts with what is going to happen on February 8th, and how to fix it.
If you want to change the password yourself so you do not have it changed for you, or you are deciding to take an active role in your account security, then please login to the WarpPortal, -> and edit the game account and change the password. We also have a Knowledge base article for this information as well.
I know there are several questions as to how an account can be compromised, so here are the vectors that we have noticed most often.
- Account sharing in the past
- A keylogger of some sort
- Phishing websites, tricking you into releasing information
- Really old passwords being bruteforced over a long period of time
- Man in the middle attacks (colleges, podunk ISP, Lan party, lan cafes)
The groups that seem responsible for the recent reports seem to be gold selling sites, they make money off of destroying a game economy and hacking players. They do pay money to get the "edge" such as buying any figured out account information collected through any of the above means, as well as creating such methods themselves. It is a sick cycle really of enticing purchase, only to attempt to hack you or others so they have stuff to sell. These methods of acquiring the in-game stuff is the reason we do NOT SUPPORT RMT. Honestly if it were only legitimate game play from players causing the money and then someone selling it would be much less a problem then what it is today.
So we are doing our part to stop all we can before it happens, your assistance and support in this endeavor is greatly appreciated.
If you would like to discuss this topic, please visit the forums.
Below is the email you would receive if you are on the list.
Dear [nickname],
Here at the WarpPortal we are very interested in helping you maintain your account security. To this end we have noticed that the password on the Ragnarok Online account [Account name], is over a year old and is a threat to your account security. To avoid potential unauthorized account access, we will be updating the password to a new random password on Tuesday February 8, 2011.
To avoid having the password changed to something you do not know, please update the password yourself by visiting the WarpPortal, logging in and updating the game account password. We will only update the password, for you, if the password remains unchanged on February 8. For assistance in how to update the Game account password please visit our Knowledge base article regarding Password changing. If further assistance is needed you are encouraged to write a ticket to the CS Team for support.
We do appreciate your support in helping us maintain account security,
WarpPortal Team