MMORPG Developers Warned of Security Risks

phantomfive writes "According to an article on ZDNet, hackers are now targeting players of MMORPGs (mainly WOW), stealing their passwords, then selling their gold/equipment for money in the real world. Microsoft security development engineer Dave Weinstein warned developers of the new dangers their titles face at the company's annual Gamefest event." From the article: "Online game accounts are already on sale in the black market next to stolen credit card accounts, fraudulent passports, fake work papers and other illegal items gathered by identity theft. In fact, some game accounts can be worth up to $10,000. 'For a lot of the customers out there, there is more store value on their MMO characters than there is on the credit card with which they pay for the account,' said Weinstein."

Comments

Re:That's a Lot of Cash

[PFI_Optix]

I can't imagine someone paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single item of sports memorabilia, but it has happened. Is it really so far-fetched to suggest that there exist at least a handful of people with too much money who are willing to spend that money on having more than anyone else does on WoW?

For that matter, given the current state of society, should we even act surprised? These are the same rich kids who spend thousands of dollars a year to have the fastest computer on the block, the latest iPod and accessories (even though four perfectly good iPods are sitting in a desk drawer somewhere), and whatever else they perceive as a must-have status symbol.