Secondary option for account security

Normally I don't care about aspects of other games, but this one just seemed smart for any MMORPG.
There is a new MMO that was released recently called Rift. This game has a unique security system, that I believe FFXI could benefit from, called Coin Lock.

http://rift.incgamers.com/coin-lock-added-to-rift-to-stop-hackers/

Quote:

---

TRION has been busy working on prevention measures to stop accounts being hacked and stripped of all their money. Today a new Coin Lock feature has been added which I have to say is an excellent idea. If someone logs into your account from an IP range that is way outside the your normal IP, your account will be Coin Locked which means anything to do with in-game currency is locked down and the hacker will be powerless to strip the character.You then request an email to be sent which will include a code to enter and your character will become unlocked.

---

Quote:

---

While in a Coin Locked status, users will have the following limitations:
• No access to the auction house
• No ability to SEND mail. Users can still receive and view mail as well as remove items from mail
• No ability to SELL to vendors. Users can still purchase items from vendors
• No ability to salvage, runebreak or destroy items
• No ability to trade
• Users can continue to play and gain coin and items, but cannot get rid of them.

---

Where the above is tailored to Rift, I would assume a few changes to custom it to FFXI.

Any thoughts on whether this is a decent system are welcome.

That is a pretty badass idea. Any security, imo, would be a good addition.

How do they know what your "normal" IP range is?

they just save the current IP address you log in from, if it changes then you are e-mailed a code that you type in in-game to "authenticate" your address. easy as pie.

Normally your IP address doesn't change very often.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cetra

they just save the current IP address you log in from, if it changes then you are e-mailed a code that you type in in-game to "authenticate" your address. easy as pie.

Normally your IP address doesn't change very often.

---

It does if you're on DSL. I have AT&T broadband and it changes every few hours. You can even force an IP change by cycling the power on the modem.

Your ISP geneally has a specific range of IP's that are permitted for use in a specific area. when your IP changes you are still within this range. This is a fingerprint of where you live (often by city).

The idea behind the system Rift uses is that if someone outside your range (district or city) tries to log into your account, everything will be locked. If this happens, you will be sent an e-mail with an unlock code. If you are the one logging in and it locks due to this, then the code sent to you will validate the new IP range.

I tried this out once and the entire process took no more then 20 seconds.
Log in .. "coin-lock: enter code"... "you have mail!" ... #### ... "New IP Validated!"

oh, and city districts often have different ranges, (residential, industrial, business)

Seems good. Add this, and give me my mog satchel. I don't want any tokens.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cetra

oh, and city districts often have different ranges, (residential, industrial, business)

---

Doesn't work that way with AT&T because my IP's come back as several areas around California and occasionally Texas. The most common location that comes back is the middle of a 6 lane street in another city, but it's not always that.

And as someone that frequents 4chan I'm glad it's like that. I know well the horrors than can befall you if you can be easily tracked back to an IRL address by your IP.

all i know is it works, i don't know the finer points of the system.... just showing it exists. lol

I'm sure they have some sub-system that accounts for cheap ISP's that cycle unused IP addresses rather then give relatively stable ones. lol

I don't know if buying from NPC's should be allowed here. A hacker could easily buy a bunch of crap items that cost way more with NPC's than at the AH.

as I said, they would likely tailor it to FFXI. the value of items is much different in other games