Accounts hacked and stripped

[Piikaa]

My guild had our BB's hacked, the PM's were sniffed and any account information was stolen. Then, the hacker(s) logged the characters in and stripped all the cash and some items. My account, they even corpsed me, making me think that everything was destroyed or sold. The hackers changed all the passwords as well, at least for the other members and myself in our guild, making the recovery process drag out even longer.

So, be advised, if you have ever PM'd a guildmate with your account info, change it now. If you have any doubts as to who has your info, change your password now. At this time, it looks like I've gotten my gear back, but they stripped over 300k in PP from my bank. This represents the cash I have saved up over 3 years and was planning on using to GM the rest of my tradeskills with...

There is at least one other guild on Bertoxx that has had this happen to them this week, and the reports are that over 2000 accounts have been hacked this week.

[Ngreth Thergn]

And I would advise never post account information on boards. If you feel you must share it, use tells in game only. Still a risk, but not as much as having it posted somewhere on the web.

[perryslots]

thats crazy! \


have u told eq about it? Im sure there are penalties for stuff like that for the people that didi it to u.

i find it horendous that people within ur own guild would do that.

what server was the guild on?


just want to make sure i dont come across them

[Grenoble]

This just also happened less than a week ago to a guild on Emarr

[Maevenniia]

perry,

Piikaa is not accusing her guildies, what she is saying is that her guild's online message board was hacked, and because some guildmates had used the online Private Message system to share account information with each other, the hackers were able to get account info and then log in and use it to strip the accounts.


Sorry to hear about this, I will warn my guildies!

[Sylphan]

I suppose that complaining to SOE would be essentially reporting yourself for sharing account info. SOE actually tracks down and bans this type of hacker... but do you risk reporting yourself?

This is a real obvious case, where you were intentionally sharing account information. Real hackers can go a step further and make guesses even if you don't do that. They can look at your message board name and message board password and figure you might have used the same password in EQ. Think about it... is your EQTraders password the same as your EQ password? And maybe the account, or character, name as well?

[Aryse Andenter]

Something similar to this happened on my server (a Zek, so there's team issues and motivations). The player did not appear to be banned for it. You do have to report it to have your account reset and your gear replaced.

You might want to look into the laws in your area - hacking your account may actually be considered a theft or more likely a credit card fraud, and hacking the message board also is against the law. Even with IPs it can be hard to bring someone to bear for this, but it's good to know there can be RL recourse - going through your credit card company is probably your best option if you really want to do something.

People often forget that in many cases board admins can see the password you use on their board. Board passwords and PMs are really fairly susceptible to hacking too. Always use different log in names and passwords and change your EQ PW from time to time. And when you share your account info, you have to trust not only the person you give it to, but everyone they might decide to trust as well

[Lothay]

Couple of points;

1. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER give anyone your password or other account information.

It's just a bad idea. Use the same logic you would with your ATM card or passcode to your bankaccount. If someone else has it, you're not secure. Don't write it down, don't tell a friend, just don't. You can never be secure if anyone else knows your password. Just because you've gotten away with it in the past does not mean it will be safe in the future.

2. Violations of the End User Liscence Agreement, like account sharing, are more trouble than they are really worth. Eventually, someone at Sony Online Entertainment willl just tell you, "Sorry, I can't help you. Would you like to pre-order Omens of War?" And they'ed be well within their rights. So don't set yourself up for that heartache, and don't do it. It's really just not worth it.

[lonewylfe]

Same thing happened to my guild on RN (Mae might've noticed the RN motd for a while was never share your account info). The GM's were nice about it and restored everything (and said that there would be legal prosecution of the hacker), but that really we were in the wrong in the first place for sharing account info over the boards.

[Piikaa]

Most of the hacked & stripped members have been restored. We still have one warrior who is missing a number of corpses, all his cash and every item from the bank, in addition to having a few toon's deleted completely. Another guild, had an officer's account hacked and every member that was level 65 was kicked out of the guild. Yet another person has reported having 37 toons across his various accounts having been deleted completely.

Myself, my corpse was recovered & exp restored. The cash was returned and I don't see any missing items from the bank. SoE was very courteous, the Guides & GM helpfull and our guild is persuing pressing Federal Identity Theft charges. SoE's legal department appears to be willing to go along with us on this, as well. I'm just happy to have my cash and gear back, so I can get on with my tradeskills again...

[Auricula]

I am curious ... was Sony informed of how the hackers were able to access the account information for members of your guild?

[Piikaa]

SoE Accounts / Legal / Customer Service have all been advised, as well as GM's on server.

[Auricula]

Piikaa (and the others who experienced the same issue) PLEASE do not take this personally. I truly feel bad that your account was hacked and had havoc wreaked upon it. And it is only a slight exaggeration to say that I feel the hackers should be given the death penalty .. they are not an asset to the human race.

However, as a person who has
a) NEVER shared an account or password with anyone;
b) NEVER used any sort of 3rd party program or macro with EQ;
c) NEVER bought or sold any items, accounts, characters or platinum, I come away with the impression that I am a fool.
d) had GM-type responsibilities at two different online game sites

I do not for the life of me understand why Sony even bothers with a EULA; it only serves as disadvantage for the few of us who honor it.

Numbered items are a cut and paste from the EULA as of this moment:

1. Accounts are available only to adults or, in their discretion, their minor child. If you are a minor, your parent(s) or guardian(s) must complete the registration process, in which case they will take full responsibility for all obligations under this Agreement. By clicking the "I Accept" button and providing us with a credit card number, you represent that you are an adult and are either accepting this Agreement on behalf of yourself or your child. You may not transfer or share your Account with anyone, except that if you are a parent or guardian, you may permit one child to use the Account instead of you (in which case you may not use that Account). You are liable for all activities conducted through the Account, and parents or guardians are liable for the activities of their child. Corporations and other entities are not eligible to procure Accounts.

4. Upon registration, you must select a password. You may not disclose your password to any third party. We never ask you for your password by telephone or email, and you should not disclose it this way if someone asks you to do so. Although we may offer a feature that allows you to "save" or "remember" your password on your hard drive, please note that by using this feature third parties may be able to access your computer and thus your Account.

6. We may terminate this Agreement (including your Software license and your Account) and/or suspend your Account immediately and without notice if you breach this Agreement or repeatedly infringe any third party intellectual property rights, or if we are unable to verify or authenticate any information you provide to us, or upon gameplay, chat or any player activity whatsoever which we, in our sole discretion, determine is inappropriate and/or in violation of the spirit of the Game as set forth in the Game player rules of conduct, which are posted at a hotlink at www.everquestlive.com. If we terminate this Agreement or suspend your Account under these circumstances, you will lose access to your Account for the duration of the suspension and/or the balance of any prepaid period without any refund. We may also terminate this Agreement if we decide, in our sole discretion, to discontinue offering the Game, in which case we may provide you with a prorated refund of any prepaid amounts.

9. You may not use any third party software to modify the Software to change Game play. You may not create, facilitate, host, link to or provide any other means through which the Game may be played by others, such as through server emulators. You may not take any action which imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure. You may not buy, sell or auction (or host or facilitate the ability to allow others to buy, sell or auction) any Game characters, items, coin or copyrighted material.

16. This Agreement is governed in all respects by the laws of the State of California as such laws are applied to agreements entered into and to be performed entirely within California between California residents. The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is expressly disclaimed. Both parties submit to personal jurisdiction in California and further agree that any cause of action relating to this Agreement shall be brought in the County of San Diego, State of California (if under State law) or the Southern District of California (if under federal law). If any provision of this Agreement is held to be invalid or unenforceable, such provision shall be struck and the remaining provisions shall be enforced. Our failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not waive our right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches. You may not assign or transfer this Agreement or your rights hereunder, and any attempt to the contrary is void. This Agreement sets forth the entire understanding and agreement between us and you with respect to the subject matter hereof. Except as provided herein, this Agreement may not be amended except in a writing signed by both parties.

Isn't that cute? These are our rules that EVERYONE has to agree to, but we get to decide who is above following them. It smacks of favoritism. I could certainly understand Sony's willingness to spend a ton of manpower to restore characters that were decimated due to a hacking of a SONY website. Are there any guild boards that are actually hosted by Sony?

As one who has struggled for every little accomplishment I have ever made in EQ, I feel like I have been stabbed in the gut.

If I die without a cleric around, I have to decide if I want to eat the experience loss or offer a generous amount of platinum to bribe a cleric to come rez me. Sure would be nice just to have access to someone else's account with a cleric and get an immediate free rez anytime I wanted ... but as -I- understand the EULA that we all agree to follow, it is against the rules.

When I need to forage something for tradeskilling, I sit here and wait for the Forage button to refresh. As a 1750 (but non-raiding) tradeskiller, there are precious few things I can make and sell for profit in bazaar. As someone with only one account, I can only have a trader up when I am not playing. And I get to compete with the undercutters who have more than one full time trader and couple foraging bots going 24/7. Sure would be nice to have a macro foraging for me while I sleep, work, clean house, go out to dinner, etc ... but as -I- understand the EULA that we all agree to follow, it is against the rules.

It is disgusting to go to the main EQLive website and follow a link to an interview with Brenlo about OoW, and see a banner ad for that well known character/plat/item selling site. I do have what I consider to be a respectable amount of platinum saved up over the past two and a half years, though probably not as much as most ubers earn in a week. Sure would be nice to /shout in bazaar that I will sell it for real cash, as I see happen on a daily basis lately ... but as -I- understand the EULA that we all agree to follow, it is against the rules. (No, it wouldn't be nice ... just making a point on this one)

And this really gave me a good laugh from the explanation of the new policy on focus effects at the EQLive website: The need for upgrades as the game progresses is obvious. The game of EverQuest is based on progression, and most players need to continually have a method of increasing the power of their character in order to maintain interest in the game. Two things primarily dictate a casting class's spell power: their spells, and their focus effects. In order to allow an upgrade path for focus effects, there needs to be a reason to get the new focus effects.

Well, yes .. I can agree with that. However as someone who will never have access to the high level PoP armour, let alone the GoD armour and no-drop spells, I see very little reason to level my character up any further. That would only lead to even better spells and armour that I can't access. A level 70 in LDoN armour is about on par with a level 30 Warrior in Banded as far as being able to progress through the game is concerned .. a liability to any group. (No, I will never join a guild where raiding 5 hours a day, 5 times a week is a requirement. Period.) So exactly how does EQ define 'progression' for me? /em feels herself being pointed toward the door.

NOW... I am going to repost the first paragraph so folks are reminded that is this general venting of disappointment and frustration ... not aimed as a personal attack (well except maybe toward the hackers)

Piikaa (and the others who experienced the same issue) PLEASE do not take this personally. I truly feel bad that your account was hacked and had havoc wreaked upon it. And it is only a slight exaggeration to say that I feel the hackers should be given the death penalty .. they are not an asset to the human race.

[Jago668]

I'd just like to respone that while yes it is against the rules. I don't think it's morally wrong to sell eq items for real life cash. It is a bit silly to do the buying. However if someone is working full time, playing part time wants to trade some of his cash for eq stuff that a full time player part time worker got where is the problem? Dupers on the other hand are a completely different story.

[Ceggon]

True, it is against the EULA.

True, you are taking a signifigant risk in sharing your account info.

Also true, however....

Lots of folks who have played for a long time have people they trust alot... and given some of the game dynamics (i.e. flagging) many friends have felt comfortable sharing their info to assist in moving thier guilds as a whole forward. In fact, in this case the issue was hacking, not who the info was shared with.

Personally, I'm glad to have seen the change in attitute from the SOE side of things. I think they recognize that they have created a situation that greatly increases the likelyhood fof folks sharing account info, and as such they have become much more amenable to restoring accounts when things like this happen. And unfortunatly, they happen all the time, sometimes even between folks who THOUGHT they could trust each other.

And Auricula, I actually agree with everything you said regarding the disadvantage that anyone strictly following the EULA would face. I think the EULA is fascistly restrictive of our use of the characters and accounts we have paid good money and spent absurd amounts of time developing. But again, I'm happy to see SOE recognizing the realities and being flexible enough to solve the problems rather than punish the victim.

All this from a guy who hasn't played in close to 6 months.... sigh, someday I'll truely kick this addiction =)