Computer and Account Security
The security of your account is a
serious matter, you should take all steps necessary to ensure your account details remain private. This article aims to provide you with knowledge that will help minimise the risk of your World of Warcraft account being compromised.
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Important : Blizzard staff will never ask for your password and will only direct you to our webform when asking for account or personal information.
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Basic Steps for Increasing the Security of your Account
Please ensure that:
- Your password is difficult to guess, use random numbers and letters and avoid anything too obvious
- You do not share your account details with anyone
- You do not store sensitive account information on your computer
- You do not write down your account details where someone may easily find them
- You never give your password to anyone, in game, via email or otherwise. No blizzard employee will ever ask you for your account password
- You never post your account name or email address on our forums, or any other forum
- Any addons you may be using do not contain an executable (.exe) file as these can often be malicious programs designed to steal your account information
- You avoid entering your account details on websites claiming to offer free gold or other in game incentives
- The security of the computer you are using is not compromised in any way, especially when playing in public places or other places where computer access is shared
| The use of phishing emails to steal account information is becoming more common. A phishing (or scam email) is a fake email designed to 'scare' or trick the account owner into replying with their account details or visiting a non-Blizzard website to enter their account details. |
The Blizzard and Battle.net Mobile Authenticators
The Blizzard and Battle.net Mobile Authenticators add an extra layer of security to your account and help stop unauthorised access; once associated with your account, whenever logging into the account, a 'unique' digital code (generated by the Authenticator) will be required before being able to log in. The digital code provided by the Authenticator is valid only once, a new code will need to be generated the next time you attempt to log in.
Please read through the following guides for assistance on obtaining and associating an Authenticator with your account:
Computer Updates
If you are using Windows, ensure that you have the most recent security and service packs installed. These can help greatly by fixing security risks and updating built in security software such as the Windows XP Firewall to decrease possible threats to your machine. You can find these easily by visiting the
Microsoft Windows Update page. We also recommend visiting the
Microsoft Security Home page for a wealth of information concerning current risks, as well as how to properly protect yourself.
Security Software
There are many security programs available that can help protect your computer and your account, please take a few moments to read through our
Security Software guide.
The World of Warcraft Launcher
The World of Warcraft launcher can now detect many potentially dangerous trojans that could steal your account name and password. When playing World of Warcraft always ensure that you load the game using the Launcher. You can find information on how to remove any trojans the Launcher may find on our
World of Warcraft Launcher detected a Trojan pages.
Account Recovery
If your account has already been compromised please make sure that any Trojans are removed by following the steps above. After your system is clear of Trojans follow the steps below for help with recovering your account.
If your account has been compromised and you are unable to login please attempt to recover your password by clicking
here.
If you are unable to recover your account password or are having difficulty with the hacker changing it again after recovery; please first make sure the Trojan is fully removed before contacting our
Game Security team for assistance in retrieving your account. When using the email form, choose
World of Warcraft and then
Account Security / Compromise / Hacked.
If you have successfully recovered the account and the hacker has not been able to login but you are missing items or characters; please contact our
In-Game Support department by creating an in-game petition.
We also have the following
article which provides further information on compromised accounts.
Solution ID: 19385Article URL:
