Battle.Net service was breached by hackers. That is the latest in gaming company hacking that has been going on for some time now. This is probably the biggest “success” to these pro hacker (as opposed to hacker wannabees), to get inside one of the gaming industry’s most security oriented company Blizzard Entertainment.
Yes, even those who are using Blizzard’s Mobile Authenticator are at risk. The company said that they are going to release an update to the Android and iOS authenticators soon, and then we are to relink the new version to our accounts. (Meaning, you have to unlink it and uninstall the app.)
Here are some information and the official statement of Blizzard Entertainment:
Follow up:
Players and Friends,
Even when you are in the business of fun, not every week ends up being fun. This week, our security team found an unauthorized and illegal access into our internal network here at Blizzard. We quickly took steps to close off this access and began working with law enforcement and security experts to investigate what happened.
At this time, we’ve found no evidence that financial information such as credit cards, billing addresses, or real names were compromised. Our investigation is ongoing, but so far nothing suggests that these pieces of information have been accessed.
Some data was illegally accessed, including a list of email addresses for global Battle.net users, outside of China. For players on North American servers (which generally includes players from North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia) the answer to the personal security question, and information relating to Mobile and Dial-In Authenticators were also accessed. Based on what we currently know, this information alone is NOT enough for anyone to gain access to Battle.net accounts.
We also know that crpytographically scrambled versions of Battle.net passwords (not actual passwords) for players on North American servers were taken. We use Secure Remote Password protocol (SRP) to protect these passwords, which is designed to make it extremely difficult to extract the actual password, and also means that each password would have to be deciphered individually. As a precaution, however, we recommend that players on North American servers change their password. Please click this link to href=”https://battle.net/account/management/settings/change-password.html” target=”_blank”>change your password. Moreover, if you have used the same or similar passwords for other purposes, you may want to consider changing those passwords as well.
In the coming days, we’ll be prompting players on North American servers to change their secret questions and answers through an automated process. Additionally, we’ll prompt mobile authenticator users to update their authenticator software. As a reminder, phishing emails will ask you for password or login information. Blizzard Entertainment emails will never ask for your password. We deeply regret the inconvenience to all of you and understand you may have questions. Please find additional information here.
We take the security of your personal information very seriously, and we are truly sorry that this has happened.
Sincerely,
Mike Morhaime
Source: Important Security Update
Here is the summary of the statement above:
- Email addresses were taken
- Answers to secret security questions taken
- Information about our Mobile Authenticator and Dial-in Authenticator were also taken
- Hashed protected passwords taken and the hackers will have to individually decrypt each password
- No evidence, at this time, that financial information were illegally accessed – things like billing addresses and credit cards
Change your passwords now. I also strongly suggest that you change your email address login. As for the security question and secret answer, as well as the Battle.net Mobile Authenticator, that we have to wait from Blizzard. Until then, you should first re-secure your first layer of security – by changing your email address login and password.
Source: Blizzard Network Breached; Change Your Battle.Net Passwords