Whether you’re booting up World of Warcraft for the very first time, you are logging into your account filled with maxed out level 60s or have recently purchased a decked-out account, you’re going to want to ensure your account stays safe so that all the juicy gold, loot and levels stay exactly where you’d hope.
Over the years of WoW, many accounts, characters and items have been lost to hackers using a variety of means. These range from phishing emails (or in game chats), brute-forcing through easy passwords and occasionally buying unprotected boosting—among a tonne of other methods.
Today we’re going to run down the top things you should be doing to ensure your Blizzard/WoW account will remain as safe as it possibly can.
Using a Strong Password.
Yes, we’ve all heard it a thousand times. Strong passwords result in better protection—but, be honest, how many of your accounts across the net still use the same handful of passwords?
First off, you want to make sure your password for WoW (and all your applications) is wholly unique, to avoid any security breaches elsewhere compromising your Blizzard account.
Furthermore, your password should contain a diverse mix of numbers, letters and symbols—the longer and more complex the better provided you can remember it and/or store it securely for when you need it.
Finally, and this should go without saying, you shouldn’t ever share your password. If you are signing up for a boosting service, or need someone else to access your account securely for any reason, you need to be changing that password before and after that user is allowed access.
A side note here: If you are ever using boosting services, ensure they offer comprehensive and reliable support. Fortunately for you, sites like ElDorado.gg ensure that your account will remain in the safest of hands while getting your characters boosted in WoW.
Use the Blizzard Authenticator
Again, in the 2020s this is a no-brainer. Most services provide two-step authentication for accessing any accounts, and WoW is no different. Ensure you add a method of accessing the Blizzard Authenticator (ideally on mobile) so that you can authenticate or block any attempts to access your account.
Use a Unique Email Address
As previously mentioned, phishing emails can attempt to gain access to your account by posing as Blizzard. The sure-fire way of avoiding this is to use a unique email address for you Blizzard/WoW account—and using this email solely for the purpose of signing up and logging into WoW.
Yes, that means no signing up to mailing lists, no anything else. This will lock you down away from the chances of phishing.
That said, if you don’t want to commit an entirely unique account to this cause, simply becoming aware of how to spot phishing emails will help increase your account security. This includes (a) searching for your true name [as listed on your Blizzard account] in the email and (b) double-checking the email address of the sender. If anything, when in doubt, don’t click on links in any emails until you can verify who the sender is.
Secure Your Computer
Some attempts to access your account can come from malware, keyloggers and other viruses embedded within your account. You’re unlikely to know for sure how they got there, but if they are there you need to get rid of them.
Thus, ensuring you have up-to-date and active antivirus software will help protect you against any of these more covert threats that may lead to your account becoming compromised down the line.
Also, we recommend using a VPN to secure your browsing sessions.
Ensure Only You Have Access to Your Account
If you use a shared computer that family, friends or others have access to, ensure that you are logging out or locking the computer each and every time you step away from the machine.
Furthermore, never share your password or the location of your authenticator with anyone. While it may feel harmless to share it with loved ones, it is safest for everyone for this information to remain confidential.
Only Download WoW Content Through Battle.net
While this may seem like a moot point in 2021, as we all used to download games very differently it’s still worth mentioning.
With the current builds of WoW (and any game bought through a dedicated platform) all of the necessary game files and updates will be handled through the game’s client. You will never be required to download any part of WoW through a web browser [apart from the battle.net client of course]. This means that you should never download any file online claiming to be a part of WoW—especially if it seems too good to be true, like an expansion pack for free.
Regardless of whether you’ve ever been the victim of cybercrime before, it’s worth following all these simple steps so you can have peace of mind that all your hard-earned items and gold held within you WoW account can stay put.
What’s more is these techniques can be used across pretty much all online platforms to ensure that not only your WoW account stays safe, but that all your online accounts do.
Alice Woods is an anti-malware analyst at Reviewedbypro.com. She is passionate about testing new pieces of software and discovering pros and cons of each program.
