Ways to protect your UO Account
Please everyone, do NOT trust any site claiming to be Ultima Online that is not *.ea.com - *.uo.com - *.uoherald.com - *.uogamecodes.com
Please post any other suggestions you have to add to this list and I will update it. As well as add anything else I can think of later on.
My Request to EA: Allow us to call you guys/gals up and change our Account Names if we have a weak account name or have been compromised in the past. Please!
This list has been updated on the date & time of the Edit Timestamp. Thanks to everyone who have made and will make suggestions to add to this! Knowledge is the BEST protection!
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Ghost_Writer wrote the following precaution:
User Sorcon wrote the following:
We want to play no part in players finding and using such programs through our site.
To Echo the last words in the above statement: "but it clearly says if the program isn't on the approved list, you cant use it."
You may find that list of Approved Programs, HERE
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The following was suggested by user Highball (spell checked and reformatted by Orvago):
- Use a Strong Password.
* 8 to 16 characters long consisting of Uppercase, Lowercase, and Numbers.
* (Example: feq62PLe826k - the maximum number a password is checked for when signing into the game is 16 characters)
* Use a password checker to make sure you have a 'strong password'. Microsoft's checker is probably the safest. That can be found Here. - Change your Passwords regularly.
* I suggest changing your passwords once a Month. - Tips for keeping your password secure:
* Never tell your password to anyone (this includes significant others, roommates, parrots, etc.).
* Never write your password down.
* Never send your password by email.
* Periodically test your current password and change it to a new one. - Use a private E-Mail Address.
* Do not use this email address at ANY other web sites.
* Do not give it out to Anyone.
* Use it ONLY for Ultima Online. - Protect your E-Mail Account too.
* Use a Strong Password too! - Protect your Account Name.
* Do not give your Account Name to Anyone except to EA Officials! - Use Caution Entering your Password at Web Sites!
* Do not enter your Account Name at any site other that UO.com's site.
* When you go to your Account Management or to the UO Game Code Store, go there Directly and not through any external links in emails or other web sites. - Do not give your Password Out.
* No one at EA will ask your for your Password in E-Mails, PMs, or any other fashion except for by Phone, and then only when You call them. - Use a Strong Account Name.
* When creating a New Account, for your Username, use a combination of Letters and Numbers. - Be Cautions when Creating Account and Character Names!
* Do not use your Real Name as Character Names, Account Names, and do not use your Account Name as Character Names or Account Names at any other Web Sites. - Firewall & Anti-Virus helps to keep you Safe!
* Keep your Firewall and Anti-Virus Software Up-To-Date!
* Windows Firewall is NOT enough!
* If you cannot afford another firewall, go download ZoneAlarm's free Firewall! www.zonealarm.com.
* If you cannot afford an Anti-Virus Software, go download AVG's Free Anti-Virus: www.grisoft.com. - Do regular Virus Scans!
* If you think your infected, do NOT enter your password or account name until you are sure you have eliminated the Virus(es) - 3rd-Party Programs.
* Do not run any 3rd-Party Programs that are not approved. You never know what could be built into said program!
Check Here for EA's list of Approved 3rd Party Applications.
- If you have a weak password, change it!
- If you use your same email address for UO on other web sites, get a new Email Address and change it with UO in your Account Manager.
- If you have characters named after your Account Name or Real Name, soulstone their skills and delete them, or buy a Name Change Code if you can afford it.
Please everyone, do NOT trust any site claiming to be Ultima Online that is not *.ea.com - *.uo.com - *.uoherald.com - *.uogamecodes.com
Please post any other suggestions you have to add to this list and I will update it. As well as add anything else I can think of later on.
My Request to EA: Allow us to call you guys/gals up and change our Account Names if we have a weak account name or have been compromised in the past. Please!
This list has been updated on the date & time of the Edit Timestamp. Thanks to everyone who have made and will make suggestions to add to this! Knowledge is the BEST protection!
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Ghost_Writer wrote the following precaution:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -There has been a recent rise in blatant attempts to gain access to UO accounts. Sites are being put up specifically to target the UO player base such as the Kingdom-Reborn download site which had a Trojan, the spoof site of uoforum dot net which was intended to spoof a legit fan site uoforums.com, and this most recent uotrading site which several people are complaining of being hacked after recently signing up for.
This goes beyond the normal "protect yourself on the internet" since we are specific targets and extra effort is being put into ways to trick specifically UO players.
Do not use sites that are not well known and trusted. And never use your UO information or even the same email account you use for UO, on another site.
This post will be left as a sticky to warn everyone, however I am locking it to prevent any discussions or arguments about how people should know better. Obviously not all do so we have a responsibility as a community to try to warn them.
If you have information of a specific site that you think justifies a specific warning please PM me with the information and I will check it out and add it to this thread if warranted.
Thank you,
Ghost
User Sorcon wrote the following:
Furthermore, a user commented on why we cannot allow this program to be named:Hey, Scammers are once again trying the "Unmentionable" program script to make you throw your gear on the ground at your feet.
They just hit a friend of mine on Legends. Granted, he should have never ran the "unmentionable" program, but someone posed as one of his closest friends and guildmates, told him to DL it and he did... Then fed him the script that made him throw his stuff on the ground.
Of course he bears fault in this for the "Unmentionable" program, but just a warning so that it is fresh in people's minds.
Yes, I do agree to some extent. However, we feel it is best to not help spread the word of illegal program names so fresh players, who may not know programs are illegal, cannot easily locate them through our site."i think its lame we cant say it, but it clearly says if the program isn't on the approved list, you cant use it."
We want to play no part in players finding and using such programs through our site.
To Echo the last words in the above statement: "but it clearly says if the program isn't on the approved list, you cant use it."
You may find that list of Approved Programs, HERE
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The following was suggested by user Highball (spell checked and reformatted by Orvago):
Hi there ...
There's a great deal going on about accounts being hacked.
One way to prevent this is having different passwords related to different sites.
Then some will ask and have in mind: What if i forget a password? Some have experienced and some use the same password.
If you forget a password, well there are ways around that nowadays since you can retrieve a new.
If you on the other hand use the same password no matter where you enter - you really ask for trouble.
Different passwords ... that's another way to deal with the hacks and no it's not at all hard to remember ...
Here's the tool:
1. You split up all the places where you need to enter a password into two groups:
2. For each group you pick two items in your home that you are close related to. I.e.:
- Economically related (bank accounts and such - and where you i.e. use a credit card - net business and such)
- All other places (Like Stratics forum)
3. You split up the two groups (mentioned in #1) into three groups after increase in security. I.e.
- Curtain
- Table
4. You will now be able to have six diff groups of securities from the basic to the highest level of safety.
- A. Normal sites - no added letters
- B. Higher security needed - here you add a BIG letter in front and after the basic password itself, like A and O ... or i.e. a Q and a W - two letters that you easily can remember where they are placed on your keyboard
- C. Highest security needed - here you add a number in front of the BIG letter + basic password + BIG letter. I.e. 1 and 2 or 9 and 0 (zero).
5. Examples:Economically related ...
Level 1: curtain (IF you want to increase security make the first letter a BIG letter like Curtain)I. Don't ever open an e-mail from a sender you haven't in your address book already (unless it's a sender you know). Do NOT read the e-mail, do NOT open it - DELETE the e-mail and INSTANTLY !!!
Level 2: ACurtainS
Level 3: 5ACurtainS6
All other ... do NOT use the same letters or numbers as in econ. relations
Level 1: table or Table
Level 2: QTableW
Level 3: 1QTableW2
6. It's quite easy actually: Pick two words related to two items you're fond of. Then pick 2 x 2 letters placed easily for you on the keyboard and pick 2x2 numbers likewise.
7. You will find that your passwords can be remembered this way and you will have six diff levels of security.
8. And FINAL ... do NOT use my examples here in the manual.
9. Good luck and you should now have made it not only harder, but merely impossible for hackers to make trial attempts of your password - and to make it even more safer - behave on the net:
10. To make it safer for you i'll give you a couple of advices concerning how to behave safer related to the net:
II. Don't ever open attachments you don't know of - EVEN when in an e-mail from somebody you know of !!! Two methods: DELETE the e-mail instantly - and do NOT open neither the e-mail nor the attachment / or write the sender and ask for confirmation that the person deliberately attached something - and what it is - there could be an attachment that the person not added.One way of a forewarned attachment could be that you make a deal with people you get attachments from ... you tell the person to write in the e-mail: *I have attached # of attachments* - where # is the actual and precise number of attachments, the * in front and after is a sign of a personal attachment - best if the person writes the names of the attachments themselves. This way you can see if the mail and the attachments differ !III. Be very cautious about to whom you give out your e-mail / your ICQ / your MSN / your credit card information - and do NOT in ANY way give out a password (for NO reason !!!) - a person wanting close information has bad intentions - the only person that needs information about your password is YOU.
IV. If you receive requests from somebody on the net that would like to be added to your ICQ, MSN or otherwise - DENY. Though - if a business has been set up in UO and you agree to correspond through ICQ, MSN etc. then read the personal information about that person. If you don't find any kind of info that relates to the person you expect to make a deal with - then write a message to that person (requesting adding) and request information about where you met or why the add request has been received. If the reply doesn't match the information you have already on the person - DENY access and BLOCK the person.It's better to loose a good UO deal than to loose your bank account or your UO account !V. NEVER be curious about something you have received that you haven't asked for - and no ... you will NOT be the lucky one that won in a 10 mill. lottery without having paid for a ticket !!!
People don't get anything for free nowadays !Good luck.