[UO Herald] An Easier Way to Retrieve Your Passwords

[UO News]

Today’s Account Center maintenance came with an important change to the retrieval of your Master and Game account passwords. You no longer need your old passwords to change them.

If you forgot your EA/Origin account password, you can request a new password on the front page of the Account Center as long as you know the associated email address.
If you don’t have an EA account yet and forgot your Mythic account password, you can request a new password on the front page of the Account Center as long as you know the account name and email address.
If you forgot your Ultima Online game password, just login to the Account Center and click on ‘Change Password’ of the product you want to change.​

If you encounter any problems, please sent us a mail to [email protected].

Continue reading...

 

[kulder]

I am not to sure I actually like this

 

[Mirt]

There does seem to be some security risk to this. I sure hope it doesn't end up being an issue.

 

[Viper09]

Well initially it was kind of difficult to retrieve a password especially if you can't remember your old password. Just make sure you have a secure email account and you shouldn't have a problem. Just don't use your related email account for everything else.

 

[Lady Storm]

AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yea there is a big thing here.... what if someone knows your e mail addy and has a hint of your account name or even more has guessed right on it...... Then your totaly fubar'ed. This is a bad idea..........

 

[Viper09]

AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yea there is a big thing here.... what if someone knows your e mail addy and has a hint of your account name or even more has guessed right on it...... Then your totaly fubar'ed. This is a bad idea..........

You're assuming that all you need is the address name. I'm assuming that you will need to actually log into the email to get anything done. I can't imagine anyone would make a system where all you need is the address for your email account and not require you to log into it to change your password.

So again, as long as you keep your account safe and not tell people your email address you should be fine. Such as not using it for anything but the game.

*With that being said, if it is as simple as you're expecting it to be then yes it is bad. Will need more info on it though.

 

[Lady Storm]

Viper09 true but i have found many dont..... infact many have the same password for just about everything in their life. (think it has to do with they dont remember more then one or dont care to remember more then a single phrase) I also know a few that change their passwords like you change your undies... (i hope thats daily.... one can never tell) Fact is many have shared their e-mails addys and even a few have been known for lack a dasy passwords (ie: Password1)......

 

[Viper09]

Lady Storm
Yeah, many don't care much about security. But for those people I can't think of any system for retrieving lost accounts/passwords that wouldn't put them at risk without being unnecessarily tedious and annoying. Secret questions may help but I'm not sure if they fixed the problem people have been having with setting them.

 

[Saint of Killers]

Bad bad idea EA.

 

[AirmidCecht]

Viper09 true but i have found many dont..... infact many have the same password for just about everything in their life. (think it has to do with they dont remember more then one or dont care to remember more then a single phrase) I also know a few that change their passwords like you change your undies... (i hope thats daily.... one can never tell) Fact is many have shared their e-mails addys and even a few have been known for lack a dasy passwords (ie: Password1)......

Many may have the same password for everything but this is how most password retrievals are done now. If your email is not secure, there is something more wrong here than a gaming account

 

[MalagAste]

Great..... now we are all open even more to hackers.... does anyone else feel super exposed right now?????

Most UO accounts that have been hacked in the past are hacked through your email..... just an FYI for everyone.

This is why I've always kept ALL my accounts on separate emails. Emails that are NEVER posted anywhere... that are for one purpose and one purpose only ...... my accounts.

But right now I'm feeling less secure than ever before as if I felt insecure in the past about being hacked now there is this..... way to drop the ball EA. *sighs*

 

[AirmidCecht]

How? and Why?

On any other site if I forget my password, including from my banking institution they send a request to change it to my email. How is this an issue?

 

[Flutter]

I'm not sure I understand, but I'm not sure we needed an easier way to get passwords.
:/

 

[Mirt]

How? and Why?

On any other site if I forget my password, including from my banking institution they send a request to change it to my email. How is this an issue?

Risk. If someone hacks your banking account there are laws that protect you and your money is returned. For UO well they cannot replace anything that goes so your just out of luck.

 

[Viper09]

Risk. If someone hacks your banking account there are laws that protect you and your money is returned. For UO well they cannot replace anything that goes so your just out of luck.

Same with all MMO's though, granted the more popular ones have a better way to recover your account after being hacked. But then you have to ask where one draws the line between security and ease of access to recover lost accounts/passwords. The more secure the more tedious and annoying it gets, the less secure the more risk. Personally people need to take some responsibility in making their accounts secure like MalagAste does. It sometimes astounds me how careless people can be with their info.

 

[Mirt]

Same with all MMO's though, granted the more popular ones have a better way to recover your account after being hacked. But then you have to ask where one draws the line between security and ease of access to recover lost accounts/passwords. The more secure the more tedious and annoying it gets, the less secure the more risk. Personally people need to take some responsibility in making their accounts secure like MalagAste does. It sometimes astounds me how careless people can be with their info.

While I agree to a point. Many other games have a VPN system on them and many will also replace hacked items. Its rough everytime we lose someone to hacking. I do worry though because as many fire walls as you put in there are many that don't and you have to worry about them more so then yourself if they are all gone UO is just as runined as if you lose your own account.

 

[Viper09]

UO is indeed in desperate need of a system to help players recover from being hacked.

 

[hungry4knowhow]

Not sure I like how easy this makes it for those of us that bought accounts in the past to suddenly lose them.... I've already heard horror stories about just needing an old email address for the account, or the original card that was on file...this seems to give those less than honest people another in to scamming people...but i may just be a bit too drunk to understand whats going on here

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

It doesn't say just any old email address is sufficient. It says the currently associated email address.

If anyone bought/traded accounts and didn't at least change the basic info, don't know what to tell ya.

 

[Lord Nabin]

People try to hack the email address I use around the game on a regular basis. Not sure why they think I would ever be stupid enough to link an account to it.

I can for sure say there are people out there actively trying to hack accounts and your email accounts.

I would have rather seen a way to unlink an account from a master account. My groups are way to unorganized at the moment for my liking and I would rather have them sorted differently if I had known once you link them it could not be undone I would have been more careful in what I was doing when arranging them!!!!!!

 

[Flutter]

My gmail account recently got hacked by someone in Israel. I know of no one from Israel.
I have never shared my password with anyone. It is not an easy to guess password. It's a bunch of arbitrary letters and numbers with no meaning.
I got a message from Google letting me know of "abnormal activity" on my account from someone in Israel at an IP address they provided to me.
They said if it was not me I should change my password immediately which I did. Fortunately there's nothing important on my gmail account.

Fact of the matter is people get hacked. The harder it is for someone to get a password the better.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

My gmail account recently got hacked by someone in Israel.

not that one, but I had a yahoo that was, had something to do with log me in automatically, I stopped, it stopped.

On may08, the forgotten password link was: (probably the same thing)
Bioware Mythic | Account Management

They notify the associated email immediately of any account change and further state
"If you did not authorize this, please contact the Support department." so yeah, your email security is pretty key

 

[Sevin0oo0]

I would have rather seen a way to unlink an account from a master account.

They told me I did that in an email I received. You can ask the rep here about it, but they won't be able to explain any better.
Quote: "you processed a de-linking of your account"
so it's there, just a hidden process, like a trick

 

[Flutter]

not that one, but I had a yahoo that was, had something to do with log me in automatically, I stopped, it stopped.

They notify the associated email immediately of any account change and further state
"If you did not authorize this, please contact the Support department." so yeah, your email security is pretty key

It seems to be more common than I realized. I had a girlfriend who's gmail got hacked in just the same way. She said it was used to send out some sort of WOW spam.
Fortunately her WOW account was not associated with the email, but can you imagine if it was? Once someone has your email account associated with your gaming account you're pretty much doomed if there is no other security measure in place (like recalling your present password in order to change it).
I guess this is why this change sits funny for me. If someone (or myself) wants to change my password, they (I) should have to jump through hoops to do so.

 

[Zosimus]

This system actually works.

What makes it not work is the player. Meaning if the player uses the same email that is associated with any game, and communicates to any other players in the games they play they kind of ask for it to be hacked by anyone. Even your closest mate. Plus your sign in name in your game should never be the same as your email name.

If a hacker/friend/love one/guildmate/virtual lover/virtual enemy even got your email all they can get is your password. Unless a player has actually given their account sign in names on their account they should never get access to your game at all with just a password.

Always have the just a game email account seperate for each different game you play.

Dont use the same sign in name as your game email name.

Don't trust anybody with any information that relates to your game.

Only my hotmail account was ever compromised while I was on vacation. Got it back and my UO account was totally intact. Just the email was taken over but it was fixed in a timely manner. My other emails never have at all.

 

[outcry]

AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yea there is a big thing here.... what if someone knows your e mail addy and has a hint of your account name or even more has guessed right on it...... Then your totaly fubar'ed. This is a bad idea..........

I agree since there was one person on my shard who went as far as getting all my personal info and plastering it all over game chat .... Ya sure I feel my accounts are not safe not for sure..

 

[Viper09]

Retrieving passwords for almost every MMO is the same. If someone can get into your email you can bet getting into any account associated is but one step further. The only difference here is that UO has zero protection for peoples accounts against getting hacked.

 

[Woodsman]

Many may have the same password for everything but this is how most password retrievals are done now. If your email is not secure, there is something more wrong here than a gaming account

This. People who blow this stuff off or don't put any effort into thinking about it really need to re-evaluate their email situation. These days, in some ways, I'd have a lot bigger or more issues if my email accounts were hacked than I would losing my wallet.

Risk. If someone hacks your banking account there are laws that protect you and your money is returned. For UO well they cannot replace anything that goes so your just out of luck.

As much as I like my UO stuff, your UO stuff getting hacked can't cause you to miss your real-life rent or mortgage or car payments.

Sure, the bank and credit card companies can return your money, but you're going to spend many hours over several weeks or months dealing with real fallout if somebody got in and wreaked havoc with your banking account. Losing stuff in UO sucks, but having somebody do a number on your banking account is a completely different level of suckiness.

 

[Lord Nabin]

That Woodsman guy sounds kinda Wise!

 

[Mirt]

This. People who blow this stuff off or don't put any effort into thinking about it really need to re-evaluate their email situation. These days, in some ways, I'd have a lot bigger or more issues if my email accounts were hacked than I would losing my wallet.
As much as I like my UO stuff, your UO stuff getting hacked can't cause you to miss your real-life rent or mortgage or car payments.

Sure, the bank and credit card companies can return your money, but you're going to spend many hours over several weeks or months dealing with real fallout if somebody got in and wreaked havoc with your banking account. Losing stuff in UO sucks, but having somebody do a number on your banking account is a completely different level of suckiness.

Not saying that the RL issues are easy, they are not. But in this case this is advertising a weakening of the defenses which is never a good security idea when there is no recourse at all and we are talking not hours or weeks, but in many cases months. Also if your only reminder to pay a bill is your email you might want to go with a paper back up I call a calander. It really helps since most everyone is using clouded email now.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

whether it's password retrieval, reset link, or even a reset where a new password is generated for you - all methods require "contact" between Them and us.
A secret word can also be established for even further identification of owner (Which I think should be Required, and required again to perform certain on-line account changes). For those complaining about the contact process, I think there is an alternative... remove your email from the account if You can't keep your stuff secure, and CALL them for any billing or transaction changes, Done.
I just don't see the problem here.

 

[Lord Nabin]

whether it's password retrieval, reset link, or even a reset where a new password is generated for you - all methods require "contact" between Them and us.
A secret word can also be established for even further identification of owner (Which I think should be Required, and required again to perform certain on-line account changes). For those complaining about the contact process, I think there is an alternative... remove your email from the account if You can't keep your stuff secure, and CALL them for any billing or transaction changes, Done.
I just don't see the problem here.

I have to agree. The security issue really isn't with EA in the end. It is with the Email accounts we own. If we secure those in a very proper manner, there really is not a problem.

We have been asking for months that this account management process offer more and better communications. Now EA has taken a first step to make some of the most common issues like "Password Reset" easier to get handled and we are sitting here bashing them for it.

No mater where the feature was sitting in the website the same arguments would exist. In the end it all comes down to you the user protecting your email account. So get out their and make a really complicated password that only you know and add a security word to your UO Account.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

and add a security word to your UO Account.

Highly recommended!
and that security word doesn't have to be a 'real' word as far as I know. I think you can use "tC27VG4ke0rP" if you wanted.

 

[Lord Nabin]

Correct and that is a great trick Think outside the box folks!

 

[Sevin0oo0]

I do the same thing for those "What's your favorite color?", or other goofy questions, it doesn't make you pick the answer, you type it in, type in Whatever You Want. In the future, I'd guess retinal scan or some other biometric, most computers these days are now coming with a built-in scanner.

 

[Xenobia]

Great..... now we are all open even more to hackers.... does anyone else feel super exposed right now?????

Most UO accounts that have been hacked in the past are hacked through your email..... just an FYI for everyone.

This is why I've always kept ALL my accounts on separate emails. Emails that are NEVER posted anywhere... that are for one purpose and one purpose only ...... my accounts.

But right now I'm feeling less secure than ever before as if I felt insecure in the past about being hacked now there is this..... way to drop the ball EA. *sighs*

As long as you make your email passwords ridiculous (2 upper, 2 lower, 2 special etc.) you should never have an issue with hacking. Also, keep the info to yourself and run antivirus. Anyone I've talked to who has been "hacked" gave their info out to a buddy or a kid. That's not called "hacking"...that's called "stealing"...I am an IT specialist for the government and have played since beta...I have never been hacked. My family members don't even know my uo/email passwords. Not trying to be hateful, just practical. My 3 cents worth

 

[Kojak]

they were getting too many tech support phone calls about lost passwords and got tired of it

 

[popps]

I am not to sure I actually like this

I don't.....
I think that UO accounts should have added security and multiple layers of security.

 

[Andrasta]

UO is indeed in desperate need of a system to help players recover from being hacked.

This.

If you got an answer other than Tough Luck Buddy and actually got some help then maybe this wouldn't be such a terrible idea.

 

[Goodmann]

they were getting too many tech support phone calls about lost passwords and got tired of it

I called a few months ago and they guy who answered said noone ever called in for ultima online. He didn't even know how to access the computer for UO.
This is gonna get a few people "hacked"

 

[weins201]

The question is - does your email get a message that says click this link to reset your password, or do you just type in the email adress and the related account and you can change your password? If it is sent you your email then having a secure email will prevent any problems, but if all i have to do is type in the account name and releated email to reset passwords - then yes acounts will get hacked because it is EASY to just realte accounts to emails.

Please tell me this uses your email and you have to GET into your email to use this - if it just is an association alot are GOING to get screwed.

Tested it real fast - Instructions were sent to your email on how to reset your password PHEW.