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Blizzard Introduces One-Time Password Devices For WoW
An anonymous reader writes "Two days ago Blizzard announced that they will be selling keychain tokens to add one-time password support (FAQ) to World of Warcraft. Have compromised World of Warcraft accounts become such a serious problem, that OTPs are already neccesary for games?"
Depends on who is making them.
http://www.entrust.com/strong-authentication/identityguard/calculator.cfm
Entrust here likes to advertise they're 1/7th as expensive as the ones RSA sells, and those are still $4/year.
So at $6 until the token dies, Blizzard isn't exactly making a mint on these things. The profit for them comes in reduced account restorations.
Unless you'd care to source me someone who sells them so cheap that Blizzard is making a fortune at these prices, since there's probably also costs for the server end of the setup?
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
Thank you Mr. Conspiracy theory. But the truth is that:
- There is a serious problem in WoW
- It is extremely common for accounts to get compromised
- Sometimes people quit the game after a breakin (-$13/month)
- A 30 second google search found similar devices for between $17 and $23 a go
If I had to guess I would imagine Blizzard breaks even roughly on these devices. I can't imagine there being a huge profit margin on $6 and that they justify it by keeping people playing.