Second Life's user database breached

Hackers broke into the Second Life user databases on Thursday, according to this post on the official blog of Second Life parent company Linden Labs. Intruders gained access to Second Life account names, real life names, contact information, encrypted account passwords and encrypted payment information.

So what?

Well, there's something scarier about this theft. Name, address and credit card information is stolen daily from various inept ecommerce sites. We're kind of accustomed to that level of theft. But how many of us are really comfortable with data stolen from the place where we spend our leisure time?

To put a finer point on it, what happens when archived MMOG chat logs are breached? It's going to be ugly, like AOL ugly: "I swear honey, that Furry meant nothing to me. It was totally just research for my new book. I'll sell the teledildonics equipment on eBay first thing tomorrow."

Gamers haven't been paying much attention to privacy of in-game communications. Given how intimate some of those communications have become, maybe it's time for more scrutiny of privacy protection measures taken by MMOG providers.

[Via Techcrunch]

[Image via furry.wikia.com]