World of Warcraft's Brand New Rootkit 576
Captain Kirk writes "We all know that World of Warcraft has checked for hacks to ensure a safe game environment for all players. The latest version of these checks goes beyond anything seen so far in that what is being checked is now completely encrypted. Obviously this hits bot writers as can be seen from these complaints, But it also strikes at the privacy of all users. Now Blizzard has a tool that is encrypted and can run any type of scan, transfer any file or edit any document on your computer. That can't be right."
Things that make you go WoW (Score:2)
This is a non-issue, as it stands (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:This is a non-issue, as it stands (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:This is a non-issue, as it stands (Score:5, Informative)
No one is saying that. What we're saying is that Warden (what a horrible choice for a name) is that, in response to one specific "what if" question about some third party with access to your machine making Warden do something naughty, "if they have access to your machine, then the fact that they can modify Warden to do something naughty is moot... they can modify ANY program on your system to do something naughty."
Your straw man needs to go see the Wizard....
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Post a fake game update, there are many other avenues of attack if you can reach this point.
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Multitasking has its pitfalls. When are people going to learn not try try to do EVERYTHING on just ONE computer.
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Re:This is a non-issue, as it stands (Score:5, Insightful)
Grow up, nincompoop. BTW, quoting lame science fiction != solidly prepared argument.
Re:This is a non-issue, as it stands (Score:5, Insightful)
This articles headline is INCREDIBLY misleading, and whoever wrote it needs a slap for their melodramatic endeavours.
Re:This is a non-issue, as it stands (Score:5, Funny)
The thing is, since starting to play WoW my life has descended into a meaningless treadmill of levelling and grinding. There's no longer anything of interest about me that's worth stealing.
The Grinder (or sub, or hoagie) (Score:3, Funny)
Collect 3 hams, return to butcher.
Collect 5 turkey, bring to Nargold Queefbeater in Stormblaughw.
Purchase 1 loaf Sourdough +1
Reward: Delicious, Choose one:
1 - Club Sandwich - +5 vit for 3 hours
-or-
1 - Broodwich - +50 mana, -20% HP for 3 hours
Accept Quest?
[Yes] [No]
Re:This is a non-issue, as it stands (Score:5, Insightful)
Since you mention a fear of such things, I would like to remind you that WoW itself runs with high privileges and receives commands from the Internet. I'd be a lot more afraid of Windows Update pulling crazy shit than WoW Warden.
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Unless WoW has some privilege escalator that I don't know about, I run World of Warcraft fine as a Limited User. The only thing I had to change was the permissions on the WTF directory so that addons could save information.
...and no, that's not a "what the f'?"
Recommendation for online gaming (Score:5, Insightful)
1 computer for everything else
Sorry if you can't afford a second, but that's how I do it.
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But, yes in general it is a good idea to do dangerous things like run spyware in a totally separate computer from the one you use for any real work or banking or such...
Re:Recommendation for online gaming (Score:5, Informative)
use a very restricted account when running it in wine. Problem solved.
Re:Recommendation for online gaming (Score:5, Funny)
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Depends. If you were running it on wine first, never fear.
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1 computer for everything else
Seriously though, I have a Shuttle XPC for gaming and a laptop for everything else. Gaming is the only reason I have a desktop at all, and the Shuttle is still very portable for LAN parties and such.
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Re:Recommendation for online gaming (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Recommendation for online gaming (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Recommendation for online gaming (Score:5, Insightful)
Having said that, people like the author of TFA are free to object to Blizzard's policy and to attempt to persuade them to change it (like they did with the issue of gay-friendly guilds a while back). If it annoys enough of the playerbase, then it will go.
I'm a recovering WoWaholic myself, and although I loved the game, the one thing that really bothered me (other than warlocks) was cheaters. I worked hard at the game, spent a lot of time grinding and crafting, and spent inordinate amounts of time learning the game and getting to know good people so that I could join a decent guild and progress. If cheating isn't aggressively policed, it ruins the sense of achievement for legitimate players by allowing others to free ride. I'd personally be willing to risk it to have less cheaters in the game, but YMMV.
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Compare that to the number of people that would have a problem with Blizzard NOT doing everything possible to stop cheating and botting.
I agree and they have made very visible progress in the year I've been playing WoW. The 2.3 patch is more of the same. Online gold sellers already have had their access to free advertising nuked. Leveling "services" have just been hit with Cheap Shot.
Why would people pay for leveling services and what not? Because it takes a casual player so dang long to get from level 1 to level 60 or 70. Leveling between 20 and 60 (and apparently especially between 30 and 60) has been made significantly easier. The
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So do you use a third computer to run games that are not available for Wii? How would you recommend that independent game developers get their products onto Wii?
I'm not the GP, but I do it a similar way; not available for Wii (or DS)? Then I go without (unless it's a quality RTS or a CIV game; personal preference means I have a Windows partition for gaming).
If you want to get your game on the Wii I believe Nintendo require you to prove yourself on another platform. There are plenty of PC gamers out there, release your game on PC, distribute via the internet. If it's a hit Nintendo should have no problems letting you release it on the Wii, if it's not a hit well t
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1 ACCOUNT for everything else
Sorry if you don't have protected memory and proper permission set up.
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Of course, if you go that route, you only need one machine...
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So nope - must effectively have a second machine via HD hotswap/disable features. Then again, if a game is this invasive, I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.
"That can't be right." (Score:5, Insightful)
Or... (Score:2, Redundant)
And I know this sounds crazy in our faux capitalist "customer is always wrong" universe, but why not organize and complain to Blizzard? It's not like players aren't already organized into large social groups (c.f. Clans, etc.). They could be mobilized and if they spoke with a collective voice might have an impact. I doubt most players would be comfortable with some corp. being able to toy with their boxes at will, and if it were explained in those terms I think you wouldn't have to work hard to convince p
Re:Or... (Score:5, Funny)
Players: "Blizzard, your malware sucks, and you suck for using it!"
Blizzard: "What? Sorry, these piles of money you keep forking over to us every month kind of muffle the sound in here."
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It's hard not to be quite so cynical these days, but there is little call for it here. Sure companies like money, but the smart ones don't go about strangling the geese that lay their golden eggs. WOW won't last forever; it will soon enough look butt-ugly and lacking in interactivity when the next generation of MMOs arrive, as is the way of all software games development. When that happens, keeping its current customer base happy and making them feel they can trust Blizzard is huge in getting the next suc
Re:Or... (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't play WOW, I don't get why people are obsessed with it, and that has absolutely nothing to do with the point, which is this:
1. Many people like playing WOW. It brings them happiness to play it.
2. The provider of WOW has instituted a policy that is objectionable.
There is no reason on God's Green Earth why 1 and 2 above need inevitably lead to:
3. Therefore people should give up WOW that brings them happiness because there is a problem with how it is provided.
Because, frankly, that's just stupid. Less extreme measures should be tried first, like salvaging that which is valuable by attempting to change that which is objectionable. Cutting your losses and running is, if ever, a last resort when attempts to fix the problem have utterly failed. Now, this is "just a game", and so it is reasonable for people to only put as much effort into salvaging it as pleasure they get out of it; it's not like fighting for your rights or anything. I just have a really hard time comprehending the general attitude around here being that as soon as someone (esp. a corporate entity) does something to find questionable that the only response is immediate and extreme measures(tm). Human beings who do care, if even fleetingly, about things other than money run these companies; they want people to enjoy their products, and would be fools not to listen to valid concerns even if only for self-interested reasons.
Re:Or... (Score:5, Insightful)
This was from my post:
Now, this is "just a game", and so it is reasonable for people to only put as much effort into salvaging it as pleasure they get out of it; it's not like fighting for your rights or anything. I just have a really hard time comprehending the general attitude around here...
And this was from yours:
This is a video game. Finding another MMO to take up your excess time is a matter of $50 at worst, since just about all of them worth playing give free trial periods. Your friends that you met in WoW will still be your friends when you stop playing if they are real friends and not merely aquaintances. There is such a thing as instance messenger and voice chat. Gain some perspective.
I've got perspective (tm). It is only a game, and as such, like I said, people who have a problem with how it is provided should raise a stink only so far as the enjoyment they get from the game is worth it to them. Since, after all, it is their money, and not yours or mine. Me, I prefer to read books, watch movies, chat (in meatspace) with friends, and post to /. for my entertainment. That's what brings me enjoyment. These folks, who like WOW, like other things than I do and spend money in ways consummate with that enjoyment. If one were to look at the publishing industry with a magnifying glass, one would see all sorts of hideous warts; the way they treat most authors is abominable, their editorial policies are groupthink L.C.D. crap, etc. etc.. And yet, I think it would be plainly idiotic to suggest to a person that they should just stop reading books because there are problems with the way books are provided as a product. There are other, better ways. They are harder, less self-satisfyingly smug, and not always successful. And yet, they are the ways that actually make things better, as opposed to the prevailing message which seems only to suggest that one try to insulate oneself from the world as it goes to shit around you.
Look, the way in which people think and how they act when it comes to trivial matters reflects very well how they tend to react to important ones. People whose first reaction is cut and run from every negative thing tend to do so not just in MMO-land but also in politics. People complain a great deal about political apathy, but apathy comes from the mindset that the other methods I have been speaking about (e.g. organize, petition, complain) are ineffective and are thus never tried. Of course they fail; nobody does them. In many cases, they've forgotten how. The mindset here reflects the mindset in the wider landscape, and so if you think I fail to have perspective because it's "just a game", that may be because this attitude is corrosive wherever it appears and I find that way of thinking to be destructive in areas of life where it matters a damn well lot.
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Then don't play. It really IS that simple. If you're having too big of a problem with that, put the mouse down and go join a support group.
a) Whoever modded this troll is on crack, this is a legitimate point.
b) This is exactly right. I don't have a problem with this personally, but I'm sure other people do, and the proper solution for them is to not play. By not playing (and letting Blizzard know why), you send a message to them that their behavior isn't acceptable to you, and, if enough people are upset about this, they'll do something about it. Complaining to Blizzard won't change anything, you need to take action.
Re:"That can't be right." (Score:5, Funny)
Unbelivable (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Unbelivable (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Unbelivable (Score:5, Interesting)
Out of curiosity, how would you go about detecting keyloggers and/or bots without reading the registry? Or do you just feel that Blizzard shouldn't attempt to detect abuse? Myself, I'm a player and I WANT Blizzard to look for such abuse. If someone finds that Blizzard's bot is doing something that's actually wrong (e.g. sending personal data back to home base, not just reading the registry), then I'll be the first to pressure them to fix it. However, if they're just scanning for malicious software that doesn't actually seem like a problem.
It is CERTAINLY not a rootkit according to any definition I've ever heard.
Re:Unbelivable (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyway why would a bot or keylogger need to write to the registry?
Would be good if you could restrict the user account you use to run wow to only talking to blizzards IP range and local IP.
Re:Unbelivable (Score:5, Insightful)
This whole problem is cause because gold is so important to the game.
They could minimize these problems with a number of basic fixes.
1) Don't allow the AH to sell anything for more then 5 times the vendor cost.
they will never hire a bad dishonest employee,
Re:Unbelivable (Score:5, Insightful)
Pretty much any program will make tons of accesses to registry keys that would at first glance appear to have nothing to do with that program, because the program loads a bunch of Windows libraries that access those registry keys whenever they're loaded. The same goes for IE cookies, for any program that uses the IE rendering libraries to render HTML (including things like the frontend patchers for games like EverQuest), because those libraries go through your cookies just the same as IE does when it first loads.
Sorry that you felt it necessary to cancel your WoW account because you didn't understand how your computer works, but at least it gives you a lot more spare time for making tin-foil hats.
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Re:Unbelivable (Score:4, Interesting)
when I was playing wow I used prepaid game cards exactly for this reason... or aren't prepaid cards available anymore?
Privacy? (Score:5, Funny)
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Then don't play (Score:2, Insightful)
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<sarcasm>
You see, as an individual, you are allowed what you want however you want it, and the fact that you don't need it is irrelevant. The creators and distributors have no right to ask you for anything in response.
</sarcasm>
Seriously modtards - He's right. People have to go without all the time. There was a time when WoW didn't exist and people survived it. People can survive it now. If you don't like
"That can't be right." (Score:2)
How many users will these alienate? A slim minority of elite geeks who actually have a clue what's going on inside their boxes -- you know, the set that contains the sub-set of people technically advanced enough to bother pirating games.
Is this going to slow the sign-ups of new accounts? Not bloody likely. Who listens to geeks? Not my boss, and not my neighbours asking fo
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That's so... so... pragmatically mercenary of you.
I'm so proud of you. Really. I even forgive you for the whole, you know, Mac thing.
Define rootkit (Score:5, Insightful)
I thought a rootkit was a program designed to take control of a system remotely or offer access to that system? This is just an obfuscated program (encrypted is a bit strong for something that is "decrypted" on your own system where you can watch its behavior).
Seriously, if this is the worst that Blizzard does, I'm a happy camper. They really do have serious problems with their users being exploited, and detecting these problems early is all good. In my case, they'll see everything that's in my virtual Windows environment under Wine.
Now, if someone proves that they're reading personal files out side of the Windows system directory or the WoW installation, then we can talk. Until then, this is a non-issue.
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You thought wrong. (Score:4, Informative)
Rootkit is an OS-level subversion program.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootkit [wikipedia.org]
How is this a root kit? (Score:5, Insightful)
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But I got a thing about people rifling through my stuff.
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Re:How is this a root kit? (Score:5, Informative)
A bit sensationalistic (Score:5, Insightful)
The likely hood of Blizzard hacking or stealing personal data is very small. They know that they could lose their cash cow by doing anything malicious with this information/software.
For those that fear credit card and personal information being lifted, I'm a little baffled. When you sign up for an account you enter most of the same personal info that is going to be on your PC anyway, and unless you are using game cards they already have at least one of your credit cards on file. All information that subscribers gave up willingly.
That aside, I did read the article and find the technology fascinating.
Oh really... (Score:2)
I wasn't aware that one must enter, say, social-security information, banking information, medical records, or personal communications -- all of which are on my PC. Those people at Blizzard must really want to know a lot about you.
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Re:A bit sensationalistic (Score:4, Interesting)
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There are plenty of parts of the game that are fun and not tedious. But Blizzard is "forced" to insert tedious parts so they can make the game "worth" the $15/mo that they charge for it. Imagine how quickly end-game players would get bored if they could raid their zone of choice ba
Console or genuine virtual machine? (Score:2)
If playing WOW or any other online game on your computer presents a hazard to that computer, the solution would seem to be to play it on a dedicated machine - one where you don't have any files or confidential data to worry about. That then immediately points to the value of a dedicated gaming box, and from there it's just a hop skip and jump to consoles... Now, wasn't the X
And all because they pooched their architecture (Score:5, Insightful)
If you start your architectural design from the assumption that the client is a malicious bot, then you can design out vulnerability. Blizzard chose not to do that. They thought that they could enforce trust on the client side, and let clients make decisions about (oh, just for example) player position. Well, that makes them idiots. Idiot savants, maybe, but idiots none-the-less.
The client cannot be trusted. Clients request, servers decide and dictate. Let the client anticipate and drift its local world state all you like, but the server must never, ever, accept a state change from the client, only requests. That's the way it has to be, unless you - demonstrably - want to play catchup for ever and a day. And if you get caught in that hole, then you need a spade the size of WOW's playerbase and Blizzard's resources in order to keep digging it deeper.
Re:And all because they pooched their architecture (Score:4, Interesting)
Bot prevention is an extremely hard problem. Warden gives Blizzard a way to send arbitrary code to the player's computer in order to carry out any "test for a bot" that they like. If the set of available tests were restricted to a defined interface, then bot authors would be able to fake the test results, and according to TFA, this is actually what happened: "previously, roughly 318 permutations of Warden existed per patch". Presumably the bot code would detect which version of Warden was in use, and use the appropriate Warden-faking code for that version.
Now, many more permutations exist, so this type of attack is much more difficult. I find it particularly interesting to point out that Warden doesn't actually have any new capabilities: it has always had the ability to accept arbitrary code from Blizzard, and all that has happened here is that Blizzard have made their "test for a bot" more difficult to fake.
Re:And all because they pooched their architecture (Score:5, Interesting)
In wow (and fps games in general) player movement is not predictable, at any point a player can stop and turn with no inertia (so it's not like, say, a space sim game where you can do dead reckoning at even fairly high latencies and make things look decent) and if you've seen any wow pvp you know it consists of a lot of jumping around and running through each other to try to get behind the other player. Also several abilities need to be used with very tight timings, there is the gcd to take care of etc. etc. etc.
You need to have some things running on the client side to make the game playable for as many people as possible (for example oceanic players on US servers), and the problem is what you do when the client and the server disagree on where you are and what you are doing: tilt the balance too much towards the client and you have easy exploits, tilt the balance too much towards the server and the game will start to feel 'sluggish' and sometimes outright broken (I was right on top of the other player, why did I get 'out of range').
It's not an easy problem to solve for a game as complex as wow, if it was do you think that with all the money they're raking in they wouldn't have fixed it yet?
Said It Before, Said It Again (Score:2)
Duh... what's new? (Score:5, Insightful)
You do realize that *any* software you install on your computer can do this? Unless you have read the full source code and compiled it yourself (Ignoring the possibility of a trojan'd compiler) there is a possibility that a program could do these things. So what's new?
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Man, where are my mod points when I need em. ++
This is where APT in Linux shines (Score:3, Interesting)
Over reaction (Score:2)
People are really too panicky. True this is a shitty thing to do and yes it sux... but they suck; afterall they quashed the open source warcraft server.
Blizzard, their TOS, and you. (Score:5, Insightful)
They clearly state in their TOS that they do this (Section 14)
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html [worldofwarcraft.com]
Don't like it? Don't play the game. Very simple.
And in fact, when you first sign up for an account, Blizzard gives you 30 days to return the game for a *full refund* if you don't agree to the TOS and don't wish to play. That seems pretty fair IMHO, and far more than most game companies will do.
- Roach
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And the original TOS says they can change it at any time.
If you're a paranoid git, that's the time to request your refund.
If, on the other hand, you realize that any process running on your machine (with sufficient user rights and can access the internet) can steal your precious information and that WoW actually isn't, you can happily go on playing.
Anyone that paranoid shouldn't have a lick of "sensative information" on a general use machine hooked to the internet, especially if the OS is windows.
And if you
And nobody complains about the passwords? (Score:2)
Privacy (Score:4, Insightful)
I simply do not understand some of the people's comments on this matter. "I feel more secure with this" isn't a very good argument. Games have bugs: if a game can access and modify your entire system, a bug exposing this would be very dangerous.
Game developers have no right whatsoever to delve into your personal assets no matter what the intent might be. There are various examples known world wide such as in Argentina (1980's) when all of the communications were monitored by the government to "capture the terrorists." Hackers and cheaters are not even remotely in that realm, so my computer which holds very confidential information should not be monitored. (Though it might make an interesting paper comparing hackers to terrorists)
When I drive on the South Florida roads I am constantly monitored by cameras at each stoplight, I don't particularly would like to be monitored in my own home where I still have the illusion of privacy. However naive that might sound.
Oh noes! (Score:3, Insightful)
If you don't trust Blizzard, why did you install the game? Why did you give them your credit card number?
But I love this stuff. It means my non-technical guildies are less likely to be exploited, it means the gold farmers have it that much harder, and drives away the vocal, whiny morons, who are likely the same vocal, whiny morons in the game.
Can I return it now? (Score:4, Interesting)
Maybe I'm missing the point (Score:3, Insightful)
But, apparently, installing four CDs full of unsigned, unaudited third party code which can do anything on your computer is okay. And having third party software which is in constant communication with its authors is okay. And having it download and execute new code every Tuesday, with or without your approval, is okay.
It's only _now_ that it's becoming a problem?
If you don't trust Blizzard, don't buy their software and don't install it on your PC. How hard is that?
Uhh the blog writer writes bots for a living (Score:3, Interesting)
Not a rootkit. (Score:3, Insightful)
1. Hides itself from the user.
2. Remains on the system even after World of Warcraft is uninstalled.
So while privacy concerns may be valid, I don't see how this is a "rootkit."
Unfounded paranoia (Score:4, Insightful)
As a very casual WoW player (I only have 1 level 70 main toon and I only just started raiding Karazhan), I'm glad that Blizzard is doing what they can to combat botting. On another toon of mine I just got into a guild where one of the guys was talking about how his friend had botted 75,000 honor during AV weekend. That pretty much pissed me off. I don't care too much because I'm not playing the game in any sort of competitive manner, but it kind of irks me.
I'd really like to see something like Warden being used to combat the problem of aimbots and wallhacks in FPS games. I stopped playing FPS games all together because of that issue.
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They are an internationally-known company bringing in millions of dollars a month from the most popular online game in the world.
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Given the fact that the randomly generated hash algorithm can be replaced at Blizzard's sole discretion with any other algorithm, including ones that retrieve and use personal, private and/or otherwise confidential information, with only their server to be required to know about the changes, this should be considered a very scary thing for the rest of us.
I'm not a WoW player and don't particularly know the ins and outs of it EULA, but I can't imagine that that is covered at all in the license. Would a class-action suit be possible for this? I would certainly hope so.
A class-action suit for what? Blizzard has written a program that checks to see if the user running the game a) has a keylogger installed (a HUGE problem with WoW) or b) is using a bot to control the game. Neither of these is malicious or harmful. People are freaking out over nothing because the gold farmers are actively seeking to put pressure on Blizzard to relax their efforts to curb automatic control over the game. Let em whine.
Re:Draconian EULA (Score:5, Insightful)
(waves magic wand) Reducto ad absurdum!
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It's just an analyzer that's part of WoW. It checks for malicious software in the environments where WoW runs and reports back to Blizzard when you log in to their service. Malicious in this context being defined as malicious vs. the user (keyloggers are a major concern in the wow playerbase) and malicious vs. Blizzard (e.g. bots and such controlling the UI while the game is running).
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Yeah...it's this type of reasoning that lets the US government get away with wire-tapping w/out a warrant and other similar privacy violating activities.
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Re:What is worse? (Score:5, Informative)
Warden has always had the ability to be updated with arbitrary code as you play. The observations of this article are nothing new: Blizzard has always been able to access files on your computer, just by sending the appropriate program to Warden. It seems that they have recently been sending more complex programs, generated for each client, so the current generation of programs that spy on Warden no longer work. The arms race continues.
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"Trojan"
Re:Wine? (Score:4, Insightful)
I suspect a lot of the fuss over this is coming indirectly from the writers of bot software and from the gold farmers...and they can go to hell for all I care. First they started spamming people in-game with constant ads for gold and power leveling, and then when Blizz implemented anti-spam filtering they started creating dozens of level 1 trial characters and randomly inviting people to party, hoping you'll accept so that they can talk to you in party chat and bypass the spam filters. It's annoying as hell.
Re:I canceled my Blizzard Account after the first. (Score:3, Funny)