Beware of Suddenly Missing FC Members...

[Dree-Elle]

Character hijacking is still a thing.

A few days ago, our FC's resident tank/healer, who'd been in since Beta, with the FC since its inception, and is currently on hiatus awaiting EA, logged on, quit the FC, and disappeared. He was later found (using the Lodestone), renamed, on another server, in an FC with three clones of the same character and two more who were probably stolen (the clones all low-level- including the FC leader, and the others were max level/gear, with matching names).

I placed a "missing character" report with Support, but now dread telling him when he logs on that his character's gone, probably for good. Whether he'll fight it remains to be seen. It's happened to someone in our FC before, and it took her months to get her character back.

So consider this a reminder to use common sense. Change passwords regularly. Don't share passwords with ANYONE. EVER. Use a security token if you can. And keep your security question up-to-date.

Stay vigilant. Stay safe.

[Kyomagi]

yikes, thats why i never ever play without a Security Token

[Kettle]

tell them to get more accuracy. oh

[Dree-Elle]

tell them to get more accuracy. oh

I laughed way harder than I should have. Thanks for the levity while I ponder what to do next.

[Saccharin]

So consider this a reminder to use common sense. Change passwords regularly. Don't share passwords with ANYONE. EVER. Use a security token if you can. And keep your security question up-to-date.

Stay vigilant. Stay safe.

If it's a logger no password will stop them. maybe they used the same password for a fan site etc... A token will however stop that but you have bigger issues if someone can access your account.

[Catwho]

It's possible to get hacked using a token (happened once in FFXI) using a very sophisticated injection virus that hooks into your launcher, steals your username and one time password the second you enter it but without sending the information to SE, and then crashing your client permanently. Any good virus detection program will detect such a virus the second you launch the client - BUT a sketchy illegal third party program also has to do the same thing. The XI account hacks were believed to be the result of an infection after visiting a bot site, then later on unfortunately the legit website Vana'diel Atlas. Moral of the story: use the token, use good antivirus software (even Microsoft's free one is better than nothing), and don't trust third party illegal things.

[Kyomagi]

however, you can reset the password by resetting the token. Say you enter the token and it crashes, you just hit the back button the token (cell phone) or the red button the SE provided token to reset the pass

[Catwho]

however, you can reset the password by resetting the token. Say you enter the token and it crashes, you just hit the back button the token (cell phone) or the red button the SE provided token to reset the pass

The token isn't exactly wifi enabled or anything. It just generates a number using an algorithm. The number it generates is actually good for a 27 minute window (or it was in FFXI) - but it can only be used once. Generating a new token number doesn't automatically invalidate the old number, only using it does. That's why they crashed the client and then disabled your ability to open it again with the injection virus. If you tried to log in using a newly generated number, it'd kill the one they captured. But if they broken your client after stealing it, they had time at their leisure to log into your account and steal all your stuff.

[Amelia_Pond_Behemoth]

The token isn't exactly wifi enabled or anything. It just generates a number using an algorithm. The number it generates is actually good for a 27 minute window (or it was in FFXI) - but it can only be used once. Generating a new token number doesn't automatically invalidate the old number, only using it does. That's why they crashed the client and then disabled your ability to open it again with the injection virus. If you tried to log in using a newly generated number, it'd kill the one they captured. But if they broken your client after stealing it, they had time at their leisure to log into your account and steal all your stuff.

Seems like there would be a number of ways around this. 1. If you have the game installed on more than one machine, you could just log on using the non-infected machine. 2. You could log out of the forums and log back in, using a new password in the process.

[Catwho]

Seems like there would be a number of ways around this. 1. If you have the game installed on more than one machine, you could just log on using the non-infected machine. 2. You could log out of the forums and log back in, using a new password in the process.

The RMT monitoring these hacks moved fast - people didn't have enough time to find another machine that wasn't infected before their accounts got cleaned out. XIV doesn't let you log in as long as someone else is logged in already, I don't think. (XI booted the original person off at least.) Logging into the forums won't stop someone who has already logged into the game.

Just keep your virus scanner up to date, though, and any AV software worth its salt will catch an injection virus the second you launch the game (before entering the passwords) and quarantine it and give you a warning about it.