New computer shipped with malware that targeted WoW
by Mike Schramm 
May 26th 2009 at 2:00PM
Here's a big oops -- a company named M&A Technology accidentally shipped out a unit of their Companion Touch PC that contained some malware on it, including a password stealer that targeted World of Warcraft. It was an accident -- apparently someone at the factory decided to upgrade the computer's drivers and software before shipping it out, but they used a USB stick that had been infected with the bad apps, and thus in the process infected the brand new computer. Fortunately, the person who received the computer apparently scanned and caught the bad code before any damage was done -- I guess if you buy a computer from a brand you've never heard of, it's worth giving it an antivirus and malware scan at least once before you use it.And/or you can just use an authenticator -- even if someone nabs your password, the Blizzard Authenticator makes sure that they can't log in without a current code. So there's not too much to worry about here -- while computers do occasionally get shipped with software that could jeopardize your security, as long as you're vigilant about what's on your hard drive, and take caution before using apps and hardware that you've never used before, you generally won't have any problems.
[via WoW LJ]
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Hardware
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
tatsumasa May 26th 2009 2:14PM
it happens. so, any more word on those druid forms?
FifthDream May 26th 2009 2:25PM
You spelled "first" wrong.
Malfural May 26th 2009 2:33PM
"Stay tuned for a preview of the new night elf druid bear form art coming later this week."
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/druid-forms.html
Task May 26th 2009 2:33PM
Read the new article just under this one.
Candina@WH May 26th 2009 2:53PM
It failed to note that the computer shipped with Windows Vista Ultimate Home Malware edition.....
resa1983 May 26th 2009 3:06PM
1. Vista's fine.
2. The netbook only ships with XP & Linux.
crsh May 26th 2009 3:17PM
@Candina@WH
You poor, clueless soul wouldn't know better.
resa1983 May 26th 2009 2:48PM
Nothing new. This happened in 2007 with Seagate hard drives..
outdps May 26th 2009 2:52PM
"even if someone nabs your password, the Blizzard Authenticator makes sure that they can't log in without a current code. "
Unless they can use your password (and other "secret" info blizz probably asks for) to convince Blizzard that "you" lost your authenticator.
Alakrios May 26th 2009 3:05PM
Also, a "problem" I've noticed with the authenticators is that they just cycle through the same set of 6-digit numbers. I've had the same one show up at least twice (if not more) in one day, if I'm logging on and off quite a bit.
Merak May 26th 2009 3:16PM
Either you are mistaken or you have a defective authenticator... The device is programmed such that a generated 6 digit code isn't ever reused. There are around 150,000 unique code that are generated in a specifc order, which doesn't seem like a lot, but if you logged in 5 times a day it'd take you 82 years to run out of codes.
Alakrios May 26th 2009 8:14PM
I've seen a few of the same codes pop up repeatedly. Granted, it's only about 3-5 of them that I've seen that way, but still
George May 26th 2009 3:19PM
Or you could play WoW on a Mac instead.
jfofla May 26th 2009 3:19PM
Just buy a Mac and avoid all this kind of crap.
Artificial May 26th 2009 3:24PM
"I guess if you buy a computer from a brand you've never heard of, it's worth giving it an antivirus and malware scan at least once before you use it."
This was *almost* a sensible statement. If you deleted "from a brand you've never heard of" from the middle, it would be a sensible statement and good advice. As it stands, its one of those statements that does more harm than good (by making people incorrectly think they shouldn't do this otherwise).
Colleen May 26th 2009 3:35PM
"So there's not to much to worry about here"
OMG, learn to write in english. There's not *too* much to worry about here. That is one of my biggest pet peeves when people spell the many forms of words like To, too, two incorrectly. Especially when they have a sweet job like working for WoWInsider. I shouldn't be able to point out these grammatical errors. Do you guys use editors?
Draol May 26th 2009 4:22PM
Typos are srys bizness.
You dont get out to much, do you?
Abedabun May 27th 2009 5:54AM
OMG - not a word.
english - proper noun, therefore should be capitalized.
words like To, too, two incorrectly - To should not be capitalized.
Oh, and technically it's a spelling error, not a grammatical error.
Futue May 26th 2009 3:59PM
USB Fail!
Maize May 26th 2009 4:59PM
OMG, learn to capitalize 'English.' Better yet, learn that people (yes, people, not robots) make typos all the time, and a word like 'to' would never show up on a spell-checker anyway. Mistakes happen!