News - Blizzard tightens security for Diablo's real-money Auction House

[HEXUS]

Diablo III gamers will require an authenticator in order to top-up funds.

Read more.

[Lord Midas]

I thought I found a lovely rare item. 7 magic properties. +10 vitality etc. Turns out it's a bit naff as a friend has one with 100+ vitality and 1100dsp. Sheesh.

Then again, I'm only a level 14 magic user on my first play through

[Tpyo]

£8.99? Methinks that just killed the real-money AH for anyone without an approved smartphone. Unless they can make it multipurpose (as a minimum a verifyer for their other games like WoW etc but then not everyone plays that so other uses may still be needed), the outlay makes it impractical for anyone but 'traders' and die-hard fans with more money than time.

[kalniel]

£8.99? Methinks that just killed the real-money AH for anyone without an approved smartphone. Unless they can make it multipurpose (as a minimum a verifyer for their other games like WoW etc but then not everyone plays that so other uses may still be needed), the outlay makes it impractical for anyone but 'traders' and die-hard fans with more money than time.

The authenticator works for all battlenet games - WoW etc.

An the app version works on advanced mp3 players as well - Zune, iPod touch etc.

[jnutt]

And Android I've been using one on my HTC Sensation for ages.

[CSF90]

No excuse not to have one - anyone with a modern smartphone (which, less face it, probably 99% of Diablo 3 players will have) can get the app for free, and the extra security is a must - particularly given the recent spate of alleged account hacks.

[HalloweenJack]

wonder how long it`ll be before there are complaints of bank accounts being hacked... theres allready cases of fresh installs of windows with av + D3 and authenticators being hacked!

[Tpyo]

No excuse not to have one - anyone with a modern smartphone (which, less face it, probably 99% of Diablo 3 players will have) can get the app for free, and the extra security is a must - particularly given the recent spate of alleged account hacks.

From the font of all knowledge that is Wikipedia:

"A survey of mobile users in the United States by Nielsen in Q3, 2011 reports that smartphone ownership has reached 43% of all U.S. mobile subscribers. In the 25-34 age range smartphone ownership is reported to be at 62%.[97] "

Granted the % has almost certainly risen since this but that's a long way short of 99%. I suspect that many other countries (possibly with the exclusion of Asia Pac) will have a significantly lower % than this.

Re: Security. Better yet, don't enable real cash transfers on your account.

[kalniel]

From the font of all knowledge that is Wikipedia:

"A survey of mobile users in the United States by Nielsen in Q3, 2011 reports that smartphone ownership has reached 43% of all U.S. mobile subscribers. In the 25-34 age range smartphone ownership is reported to be at 62%.[97] "

Granted the % has almost certainly risen since this but that's a long way short of 99%.

That quote is talking about just mobile users, right? Not Diablo 3 players as CF90 was talking about?

That said, I'm a Diablo 3 player who doesn't have a smartphone. I do have an mp3 player that can run the app though.

[Lucio]

Anyone playing a Blizzard game without an authenticator is taking a massively unnecessary risk. It's really a good idea of them to insist on their usage to claim real money back, puts them up there with a similar level of security to a bank.

[Hicks12]

problem is i change rom alot on my phone, when i looked into using this authenticator awhile ago i recall seeing it requiring to stay and that youd have to ensure you uninstall(unlink) the authenticator from the specific mobile/account and then re add it again but i just cba i know id forget and blizzards support is slow.

[Pob255]

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/05/22/di...due-next-week/

With the account hacking that's been going on improved security is needed before real money gets involved.
And this authenticator isn't it, all this does is add a layer to your battle.net account, not your diablo3 account.
it'll not stop someone hijacking your diable3 account and then handing over all your stuff to another d3 account who can then sell it for real money.
what this would do is add an extra layer for someoine hijacking your d3 account then using it to take money from your back account.