It happened while I slept. I was robbed and left for naked... and didn't even know it until late in the afternoon.
Amazingly, there isn't a bruise on my body. Nor have I lost any material possessions.
So what happened? Read on...
Late Friday night, I was enjoying a session of World of Warcraft in my hotel room. The conference had ended for the day and I connected my laptop to the wireless network for some fun before heading to bed.
I awoke Saturday morning and spent the day in the conference room and meeting with my associates.
I came back to my room around 5 pm EST and decided to login to my WoW account.
That's when I was stunned to find myself the victim of a terrible and heinous crime.
My primary character, Riathamus, had been robbed blind.
He was virtually naked.
All his armor and weaponry had been stripped from his body and sold, the gold undoubtedly in the hands of unscrupulous people.
His bank account had been wiped out, save those items which could not be sold, and over 1300 gold was removed from his person.
That was gold that would soon pay for the flying mount Ria would've attained at level 70, which was just hours within his grasp.
All gone.
A further glance revealed that my other characters had also been stripped of their goods and robbed of their bankroll.
All told, I had lost nearly 2000 gold in cash and items.
What happened?
Someone in the hotel must have been using a packet sniffer or keylogger to detect my login and password over the unsecured open network.
In the United States, it is a third-degree felony to login to another person's computer over a wireless network. And it is made worse by those who would seek to cause harm or damage to another person's data in such a way.
Now, don't get me wrong. I wasn't really mugged or beaten.
But I feel violated just the same.
I've enjoyed playing my character on World of Warcraft for several years. To have someone come along and steal from me really upset me.
I have contacted Blizzard's customer support team to see about recovering my stolen gold and items, though I don't know how they typically handle these types of things. I might just end up being naked and penniless for all I know.
Why should you care?
Because losing virtual stuff is one thing, but there are those who would seek to steal far more substantial things from people who use open wireless networks.
How does giving someone to your bank account or paypal account sound? Not so good, right?
It could happen if your computer isn't secured.
Do you use a wireless network at home? If you don't secure it, anyone can use your network and watch your critical data flow by.
Do you travel and use hotel networks? You can be victimized just as easily as I was, only the stolen goods might be far more sensitive material.
I am blogging this entry from my hotel room, but I've since purchased a virtual private network (VPN) service that protects me from further victimization.
Will Blizzard respond by restoring Riathamus and my other characters to their previous state? I don't know.
Regardless, I learned an important lesson about securing my computer. Since it could have been much worse, I think it was a small price to pay.
What do you think? Did I have it coming or are you sympathetic? Your kind words are always appreciated. And if you want to help me feel better, Comfort food always helps.
I will keep you updated on this saga...
its real Visit
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