security hole – MMO Fallout

G_Unit_pictures — G-Unit doesn't handle account theft.

(Important) Continue reading down to the bottom of the article. There is a follow up link at the bottom to a more recent explanation.

So I’ve been following the recent account thefts over at NCsoft (namely Aion and Guild Wars) pretty closely recently, not only because I play City of Heroes and if this account theft issue bleeds to other games it could affect me (gasp), but because the stories just keep getting stranger and stranger.

Case in point: An Aion account that was reportedly stolen, and looted of all of its items. The password was not reportedly changed, but the account was cleared of all items. In itself, this story doesn’t sound very exciting. Hundreds of accounts over a variety of MMOs get the same treatment every month. The account theft took place on December 19th and 21st, but take a good look at the account subscription history: