Hacked!

[BadHabitz]

On the 23rd of December it appears as though my Origin account was hacked. How do I know this? When I woke up that morning I checked my emails and it looks like while I was sleeping I bought a digital download of BF4 and then proceeded to change my Origin password. It was made more obvious that I was hacked since the email receipt for my BF4 purchase was in Russian. Now, unless I buy games in my sleep, and can do so in Russian, then that means something improper took place.
So I had the pleasure of dealing with the fine folks at EA's customer service, and as an extra measure of precaution I went ahead and reported the fraudulent purchase to my bank, who then canceled my card and are sending me a replacement.
After looking at Battlelog I'm glad to see that nothing really happened. I was fearing that the hacker would be using my account to hack his balls off, but in the end he only played for 23 minutes and didn't do anything.

So, just a word to the wise, might want to change your password from time to time. And I'm guessing it might not be a good idea to tie a bank card to my account.

Now, the conspiracy guy in me says that EA has an elite group of Russian hackers that act as a third party to break into Origin accounts and buy BF4 in an effort to make it look like the game is more commercially successful than it is.

[Schultzy]

Now, the conspiracy guy in me says that EA has an elite group of Russian hackers that act as a third party to break into Origin accounts and buy BF4 in an effort to make it look like the game is more commercially successful than it is.

Considering....

I don't think you're far off.


That said, I make use of a program called "Keep Pass" it's free, randomly generates, and can use any number of algorithms to produce passwords. Not as easy to hack as say, your birth day and whatnot.

[Slaughter]

That said, I make use of a program called "Keep Pass" it's free, randomly generates, and can use any number of algorithms to produce passwords. Not as easy to hack as say, your birth day and whatnot.

Yuppers. Everyone should get a program like this (I use LastPass). These will help people get away from non-strong passwords and even worse, from using the same password in multiple places. They typically work with multiple browsers and have smartphone apps too.

[juneau]

That's a crappy thing to happen just before Christmas.

Russians.... Hacking and gay bashing appear to be their favourite past times.

[SighKoPath]

Considering....

I don't think you're far off.


That said, I make use of a program called "Keep Pass" it's free, randomly generates, and can use any number of algorithms to produce passwords. Not as easy to hack as say, your birth day and whatnot.

I also use KeePass, and it's wonderful. The standard versions run on Windows, there's an Android app (and a bunch of apps for other mobile environments), and it can run in OSX and Linux using mono. http://keepass.info/

LastPass is pretty good too, but it looks like they make you pay for the mobile versions.

[{CLR} Cobalt]

I just use Thai language for my passwords with numbers. If they figure that out then they are some tough cookies.

[Apache Warrior]

And I use obscure Japanese, Okinawan and Chinese Martial Arts words with numbers.
Apache

[Qicmee]

Passwords are okay if long (12 character bare minimum) and unique per site. Password manager software does a good job of creating passwords without any words. Obscure Asian words are probably safer than English; especially if the password is very long.

Even with a good password, website designs can be poor, allowing easier password hacking. Or individuals can be hacked through key-logger trojans (installed via email or website) or social engineering ("I forgot my password, please reset it.").

[majinsnake]

Use a strong password.

1. Have atleast one uppercase letter.
2. Have a symbol ($, %, #, ^) in it.

[BadHabitz]

My old password contained no coherent words, contained two uppercase letters, and numbers. I've added a symbol to my new password.

[Slaughter]

LastPass is pretty good too, but it looks like they make you pay for the mobile versions.

Yes, the mobile app is a pay-for. But, I don't use it. I'm fairly paranoid regarding public wifi and the main things I do on my mobile phone (besides calls/text) is check email and some Facebook (pretty strong passwords for both), plus news and weather. No banking, investing, shopping, etc.

[K PhaNTOM]

Every time I change my Gmail password I forget it.

[SighKoPath]

Public wifi (and anything that's not using WPA2) means connecting to my VPN. Mostly for mobile, I'm on my home wifi, my company wifi, at a friend's place, or just using mobile data.

I might be a little paranoid.


And, 12+ characters using numbers/symbols/capital letters aren't required for a strong password... just for a hard to remember password (fine if you're using a password manager). This is actually 100% accurate: https://xkcd.com/936/ (just pick your own four random words). But still, it's best to use a different password for every site.