Davey Winder
Sunday, 29 June 2008 22:06
Business IT -
Networking
Page 2 of 2
Now
Blizzard Entertainment, the
company behind World of Warcraft, has made perhaps its most powerful
weapon ever available. The twist being that you cannot use it in the
game, but rather it protects the player in real life. The
Blizzard
Authenticator is, you see, a
hardware security token which protects the account name and password
when signing in to the game.
Once associated with your World of Warcraft
account, the Authenticator token has to then be used before you can
actually login to the game. It works by generating a disposable
six-digit pass code. This unique, valid once only, active for a limited
time, code has to be entered before a login can be activated. It
provides and additional layer of security to what is, after all, fast
becoming a very valuable resource: your virtual life.
But just becuase it is a powerful weapon do not be fooled into thinking
it must also be an expensive one,. Far from it, as the Blizzard
Authenticator goes on sale for just 6 Euros (AUD $9.60) plus shipping.
"It's important to us that World of Warcraft offers a safe and
enjoyable game environment," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of
Blizzard Entertainment. "One aspect of that is helping players avoid
account compromise, so we're pleased to make this additional layer of
security available to them."
I would have called it the Code Breaking Gizmo of Blizzardo though...