Security, Third Party Sites and Your Information | EVE Online

Security, Third Party Sites and Your Information

2007-03-28 - By kieron

We are aware that a former member of the EVE Community is continuing his vendetta of revenge and spite based on lies, half-truths and misrepresentations. Sadly, these most recent 'revelations' are hardly more than sensationalism concerning a staff member who left the organization over 3.5 years ago, and a case of mistaken identity. While the character mentioned in the latter revelation does belong to a CCP staff member, the information concerning the owner is incorrect. Not only is the blown identity a sad occasion for the staff member as the character will be removed from play, this should also be a lesson for the EVE community. How so? Apparently, this information was gained after security on another third-party forum was breached.

Visiting sites containing questionable or malicious content can have harmful repercussions for you, your personal information, your family and friends. When you visit any website, your IP address, operating system, web browser and a variety of other information are visible to the site owner. Actually registering with a site of questionable or malicious content can provide a hacker a starting point by which your user name/password conventions can be deciphered. Of course, this is assuming you didn't provide a user name and password you have used elsewhere, such as your bank account or other important account information.

Webmasters, if you value the security of your websites and content, ensure your users change their passwords on a semi-regular basis. Users, security isn’t just the responsibility of webmasters or site admins, it is your responsibility too! Change your password on a regular basis, use unique user names and passwords for different sites and never give any account information to anyone that asks for it, unless you can confirm the security and validity of the requestor.

There have been a number of blogs and news items posted concerning account and information security, including topics such phishing, trojans, third party applications (ISK generating screen savers, LOL!), anti-virus software and more. That information is good, but the best tool at your disposal is your common sense. If it sounds too good to be true, doesn't sound good at all, or simply doesn't feel right, don't do it. If related to EVE, submit a petition. The Dev and GM teams are more than willing to assist and help protect you.