World of Warcraft players continue to lose items as stolen accounts rise. It takes hundreds of hours to obtain Tier 8-9 items, it takes mere minutes [for the evil doers] to breach your account. How is this done?  All it takes is visiting a website containing a malicious code through their ads banner system.

Some websites’s content may be questionable, or hackers managed to breach a legit fansite’s server to inject code linking to a remote malicious file such as a keylogger or trojan that sends the hacker your keystrokes, allowing him to learn your account name and password.

You could install Spybot: search and destroy, Avast anti-virus, or Ad-aware. Nevertheless, there is a chance they won’t pick up everything.

You need another layer of protection to keep your World of Warcraft account safe from burglars.

Blizzard Entertainment found that extra layer of protection by partnering with VASCO, This company offers banking security to healthcare, e-gaming, automotive, human resources, education, administration, e-government, legal, manufacturing, and many more.

Blizzard’s solution to the rise of stolen accounts besides the warden application, is to give its customers the same level of protection used by banks and the government by providing players the Blizzard Authenticator. It merely costs $ 6.50 (US), or if you have a mobile device the Blizzard Mobile Authenticator costs .99 cents.  You can download it here.

Did you go to BlizzCon 2008 or 2009?  If so, you don’t need to buy one. Blizzard gave you one. It’s in the Blizzcon swag bag.

In the past two months, I have seen guildmates and people I play with comment their items were stolen, their account breached.  A couple of nights ago, someone I helped about a month ago when he was around level 50 whispered me to help him run Ahn’kahet: The Old kingdom. He’s now lvl 72.  While running it, he told me his account was breached, and lost most of his items and gold. He was trying to get a GM to help him recover some of that.

It stroke me.  If a mere lvl 72 that is still trying to reach lvl 80—who has absolutely krap for gear and not a lot of gold gets hacked, imagine someone that has been level 80 within less than a month since Wrath of the Lich King launched.

You, me, everyone that has been lvl 80 for the past 11 months. All that gold. Your entire bank items. All those Ulduar and Argent Coliseum gear gone in a heartbeat.

You don’t have to be among those who have suffered this loss.  You are covered.  Blizzard can help you.  Simply grab a Blizzard Authenticator. And follow these instructions:

First, create an all-new Battle.net 2.0 Account—US players or Europe players.

Associate or merge your World of Warcraft account with a Battle.net Account (instructions here if you haven’t done so yet).

To activate your Blizzard Authenticator do these steps:

  • Log into Battle.net Account Management
  • Click the “Change Security Options” link (view our image)
  • Click the “Add Blizzard Authenticator” or the “Add Battle.net Mobile Authenticator” image (view our image).
  • Enter the 10-Digit serial number located in the back of your Blizzard Authenticator device and click attach.
  • Click the button of your Blizzard Authenticator device to generate a six digits code. Enter the numbers onscreen and once it is authenticated, your World of Warcraft account is safe. (a popup message will say your account has been successfully attached)

From now forward when you visit your Battle.net Account Management page you will be prompted to provide a Blizzard Authenticator code to gain access to your account page. And when you enter your username and password in World of Warcraft you will be prompted with a popup that requires you to type a 6-digit code. Simply grab your Blizzard Authenticator, click the button and type the numbers generated by the device to get access to your game. Voila. Very simple, and your gear and gold are safe.

If you need to remove a Blizzard Authenticator follow these instructions. The authenticator has a ring. Simply attach it to your keychain to keep it on a safe place. If you lose your apartment and cars keys, you will lose it, but you won’t do such a foolish thing, right?