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SOE releases account authenticators
Sony Online Entertainment has joined the growing list of gaming companies that offer physical authenticators for protection against account hacking and associated fraud. EQ2Wire brings us the details on the new device, which at $9.95, is slightly more expensive than Blizzard's comparable Battle.net fob. SOE's authenticator may be used on multiple Station accounts, and for now at least, is shipping out sans handling charges (even for overseas orders). EQ2Wire also has a handy and detailed guide to the new authenticators from last month's Fan Faire, and the website notes that free iOS and Android security apps will be forthcoming at an as-yet unannounced date.
Intel working with Symantec and Vasco for IPT, hardware-based security measures
Phishers are getting so good and so numerous that even the most technically adept of online bankers should think twice before typing in that password. Even if it's a legit site, databases can be infiltrated and passwords can be cracked. Time for something more, then. Intel is working on it, teaming up with Symantec and Vasco on what's being broadly termed Identity Protection Technology, or IPT. This tech enables a computer to, in hardware, generate a one-time password (OTP) that a compatible site could accept. That computer would have been earlier paired with the site to ensure that only authorized machines sign on. It's similar to the random generating key fobs you might need to sign on to VPN, but built in to Intel's Core i3, i5, and i7 processors. Of course, that won't help if you e-mail your credit card number to a supposed friend who's supposedly stranded in some supposedly far away land, but it's progress.
Early Nokia N8 leak attempts to go viral (video)
Remember that viral video being made for the then secret Nokia N8 codenamed Vasco? The one leaked in a tweet. Well, here it is, a mixture of impressive foosball skill and even more impressive CGI animation. Was it worth the wait?
Nokia N8 gets handled, survives thorough Russian preview
We heard through the grapevine back at CTIA that Nokia's elusive N8 would be announced somewhere in the wide world this April, and sure enough, it looks as if the handset has popped up over in one of Russia's eleven nine time zones. Our pals at Mobile-Review have worked their magic once more on an up and coming handset, this time landing some serious face time with the planet's first Symbian^3 phone. Despite Nokia pushing the official reveal of said OS to Q3 (from Q2 previously), we're getting an early look at what exactly is to come here -- and if this review is any indication, Nokia's woes are about to become even more woeful. In short, critics panned the new system for being little more than a polished version of what Nokia's already offering, and they clearly noted that nothing here lived up to what Android and iPhone OS currently provide. In fact, they even went so far as to wonder who is inside of Nokia purposefully dragging down the brand; granted, it's hard to say for sure how great (or not, as the case may be) the N8 is without touching it ourselves, but to say it's off to a running start would be misinterpreting things quite severely. Have a look at the source link below for more of the machine translated goodness, and don't forget to ogle a few shots of the phone itself. [Thanks, Andria]
Nokia Vasco viral video ready, N8 flagship too?
If you already believe the rumors that "Vasco" is the codename for Nokia's unannounced N8 flagship and that the N8 is the device pictured above then lean in, we've got a bit of news for you. A viral video for the "Nokia Vasco" has just wrapped according to cameraman Danny Gagatt's tweet above. That sets the expectation then, that the launch of what everyone expects to be Nokia's first Symbian^3 device is just around the corner. Plausible since Gagatt's slip (since removed) tips The Mill -- the same visual effects company used by Nokia for the N900 nuthouse job. Besides, it's almost mid-April so we expect things to get official right quick.
The Queue: Not quite mutual destruction
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. I want to kick off this edition of The Queue by thanking you guys for submitting your armories to the reboot of Pimp My Profile. Our first edition will be hitting this upcoming Wednesday. In an ideal world, we'll have one for you every single Wednesday after that. On to the Q&A! RogueJedi86 asked... "Why were the Dragonflight Aspects created/assigned if they can be killed with no repercussions whatsoever? Killing Malygos didn't do so much as give Mages a nosebleed, despite being the Custodian of Magic. And I doubt killing Deathwing will do anything to the earth either."
In defense of care packages and mandatory authenticators
If you read WoW.com with any regularity, you probably saw and read our pieces on Friday discussing some rather curious policies Blizzard has recently instituted. There are two in particular that I'd like to discuss further: The care package for hacked accounts and the possibility of mandatory authenticators. First, how many of you have had your accounts stolen, or know someone that had theirs stolen? Chances are good every single person that reads this post will raise their hand to that question. The problem is not a small one. I'm in a rather large guild, and every few weeks someone has their account stolen and the little bits of our guild bank they have access to go with them. My large guild is also just one guild in a larger guild alliance which suffers the same problems. Every two weeks or so, someone I see online on a regular basis gets their account stolen.
BlizzCon 2009: An interview with Vasco
Vasco, the digital security company that makes authenticators for Blizzard, has actually been at BlizzCon for a few years now (last year, they gave away yo-yos, and this year, they were responsible for all of those blue glowsticks floating around). But this is the first year we decided to stop by their booth and chat with them, and it's a good thing we did: Will LaSala, Director of Services, gave us a lot of good insight into how Vasco's relationship with Blizzard came about, just what the system behind the Authenticator looks like, and how the mobile authenticator app fits into all of this.He was kind enough to give us a short interview, and you can read it right after the break.
The Queue: Nuts and bolts
Oh boy. Most of us are the walking dead after BlizzCon, but let's get back to something resembling normalcy with a Queue. We're going to start off today with an important matter concerning authenticators and account security, then move on to a bit of WoW.com business and Onyxia. I'd also like to direct attention to two really good comments from the last column re: technical issues, Shadow's and Logarth's.Zerounit asks... I recently got an Authenticator in the mail and I noticed something while I was inspecting it: there appears to be no way to open it short of cracking it open with large objects. Is there a battery life on these? If it stops giving me my magic codes, will I have to get a new one? I got an authenticator for my own use recently and have to admit I hadn't thought to look into the battery life, which is a very good question indeed. A dead authenticator means you have no way of getting into the game (or even into your online account) without official help from Blizzard. Turns out the little security doodads are manufactured by a company named Vasco, and after poking around their website, I'm reasonably certain that Blizzard authenticators are a variant of Vasco's DIGIPASS GO 6 model. What makes me so sure? The GO 6 model page is the only one accompanied by an article on fraud and hacking in online gaming. They don't come right out and say that Blizzard is a customer, but unless Hello Kitty Online is a bigger hive of scum and villainy than even we gave it credit for, you don't have to be a genius to figure out that World of Warcraft figures prominently in MMORPG account theft.
