Surviving eDeath - What to do if your Account Appears to be Hacked
BOUD1CCA
Firstly, never assume it won't happen to you.
I had read where it has happened to other players, ones with a big stake in eRep, in funds, buildings and/or voice. Hacking for fun & profit or just to break their hearts & so shut them up.
My account was important to me, but nothing big in the scheme of things. So I just assumed nobody would be bothered. But accounts can be interfered with for malice, or nasty fun, maybe like "lets take the bi**h down a peg, should be a laugh & that will teach her because she has dissed one of us"
The best defense then is to stop it happening. A STRONG password (I assumed mine was but obviously not). Then get your buildings PW protected so they cannot be sold off easily.
Then, speed is of the essence. You try to log on & find there is a problem, follow the reset password route and contact Plato ASAP.
The reissue password instructions will be sent to your email address - that's where I crashed & burned. Plato does not like excite email addresses, so I opened a hotmail email & then forgot about it - after a couple of years it had lapsed & I had no hope of recovering it. So - keep your email address active, just in case.
All is not lost because one can then contact Plato & he will arrange to have a new email address recorded. All you have to do is tell him your name & DOB & if anyone referred you.
Now identity theft is always a problem - greater than people may realise. So I would maybe have used something like "Noname anonymous" DOB 1/11/11. The sensible thing would be to keep a record of it somewhere - obviously I did not & I was stuffed.
So, therefore, keep records, Not logs of conversations & suchlike - so incredibly anal & boring when they are posted to prove some argument or another. But records of your account - THEY are important
There is a last resort, countries have I think a games moderator (if that is the name for them) Australia's was Ranger Bob (I don't know who now if he has actually left). I owe him an eternal debt of gratitude for contacting eRep on my behalf.
Lastly get Plato to love you. A diamond member, you have Plato himself on speed dial - myself I exist a bit lower down the chain - I may have got the office parrot (but that is unfair, eRep support was unfailingly polite AND thanks to them I am back \o/
Now personal stuff.
I have never hounded anybody out of the game. Hounding implies a systematic campaign of intimidation etc.
I had one conversation with our past CP where I asked him (very bluntly) to explain his actions in capitulating so quickly to demands made by the FYROM CP.
If I had known that he would take it so hard that he left the game & abandoned his position as CP and then it seems later blaming me for his actions, I would have handled him with kid gloves.
But all of that is just words & opinions - & what was said about my incredible spitefulness meh! it has certainly not driven me from the game.
But an attack on my account, which by an astronomical coincidence occurred just at this time had a pretty good go at removing me.
Tickets have been sent to Plato but the chances of finding those responsible are vanishingly remote - I am just relieved I got my account back relatively intact.
When I started venting about this on our forum I was greeted with, I imagined I was hacked, I was being paranoid etc.
And in truth it has made me paranoid, when I log on now & there is any delay, my heart starts sinking.
When I see forum comments that seem to refer to my account, are those of some aspergers affected schoolboys. or some evil little bastards having a laugh?
Other comments that seemed to indicate that the person making them was aware that my account was interfered with even before I was, just coincidence? or something else. I cannot tell & yes I am paranoid about it.
Only if I could see them face to face would I know.
I do suspect strongly that the problems with my account originated within the Australian community - this spiteful little cabal has affected how I view Aus, to the extent I no longer have faith in it nor do I trust it.
So maybe I will be moving to more gracious climes - where such nastiness does not occur - are there such places??
But on reflection maybe I won't, I am aware that there are decent people in the Aus community & seems like I am arrogantly blaming them as part of a group for something that would appall them personally.
And, like in Henry Lawson's short story, it could be that I am A Patriot in Spite of Myself, even if it is only pixels.
Besides which the REAL eEnemies: Indonesia (what can one say about the Javanese empire that is any good),
Chile (or is it CheeLay according to the latest PC pronunciation - but you will always be a fruit to me Chile.
And now that little Slav pretender. Something needs to be done about them!
Comments
That happened to me ages ago, I can't even remember which game.. maybe CoH?
I'm now so paranoid i have passwords at least 10 digits long, letters, numbers, symbols, upper and lower case, and 4 different e-mails i register stuff to...
I like to think i'm safe, but you never know...
Grats on retrieval
o7
Thanks 🙂 I am like that now - once bitten twice shy 🙁
It happened to a friend of mine in the eUK and the admins did naff all sadly, anyway, where you went wrong was coming straight out and pointing at one individual...who in two years of playing has never once been linked with anything like that despite arguments with Individuals more deserving of that crime.
For what it's worth I'm glad you got your account back and i hope in all sincerity that whoever did it gets an I.P ban because we don't need scum like that in this game.
You will understand that I was stressed, very angry & responding to comments that seemed to suggest awareness if not complicity.
Actually I have no idea who was responsible & will never have.
It was a lesson to me to keep better records & to be more aware of account security in future.
Glad you got your account back - just remind me never to give you friendly advice again. I was definitely not being a "smart arse", just trying to give you suggestions on how to go about getting your account back. I'm not a psychic, I didn't know you had already tried my suggestions.
BTW - I'm pretty sure the admins would have clocked on very quickly if they'd have all of a sudden seen a RL Australian account with an Australian IP show up in the UK.
Read Para 13 again
Your advice in the AUS forum was not particularly friendly and yes you did have advice, "contact the admins" tacked on as BTW at the end
Restating, more clearly, it seemed to me that the "hacking" of my account was discussed somewhere, that people even if not complicit seemed to be aware of it - seemingly before I was.
It all comes down to how things seem & appear Claire Louise - in your post (with the friendly advice) you seemingly were telling me when my account was hacked - now how would you know when? Yes there could be a completely innocent reason - as I said I feel paranoid now.
Besides the point of this article was to maybe give people a heads up to make their accounts safer - not attack you.
As I said on the forums - I know when it was hacked, because you made a thread stating you'd be hacked. That's how I knew. You publicly advertised the fact that you were hacked. I went off the time you posted that thread.
As for my advice - it was absolutely friendly. As I said, I'm not a psychic, I didn't know what you had already attempted in regards to trying to get your account back, so I gave you a few suggestions. My thanks? You accused me of hacking your account.
I was only aware of your account being hacked because you made a thread on the forums about your account being hacked...
You are going to keep this up forever aren't you. Determined to have the last word about this & how it was not you.
I never said it was - I just no longer trust you & your "friendship"
Lmao... http://prntscr.com/353in2
You In response to Claire Louise - ''Looks like I have a pretty good idea who the hacker is now - you sneaky dishonest b*tch''
Did you keep a straight face when you just said that you never said Claire was the one who hacked you?
Clearly you have w selective memory Louise
You are right, it was over the top, I should not have called you a bitch Claire.
As for the rest, it was interesting that you did seem to have a pretty good idea when my account was hacked - before I mentioned when. It is in your post, maybe Hugh could print that?
As for you being the hacker - well I do doubt that, as I said more than once , I really don't know. Actually I doubt you would have the skill
Haha, no, I absolutely don't have the skill to hack anyone, nor would I waste my time bothering. As for the dig at my general intelligence, well, let's just not go there eh?
And I'll repeat, I got the time from when you posted your thread about you being hacked. I also backtracked on another post on that thread apologising for getting the timing wrong.
Point is, you accused me, then denied accusing me, and essentially was a complete and utter cow to me because you flipped your lid and seemingly, you're void of logic and the ability to reason when you're mad.
So you were over the top with CC and over the top with me... I'm sensing a pattern here.
who knows your e-mail for this game?
I have very easy (to me) combination with letters and digits for password and only the admins know my e-mail.
If you have joined other forums, maybe you could have given it in your profile info?
I would have said nobody knew mine, nor could they have guessed it- but who knows?
For the forums I have another e-mail
A lot of us have very well known emails, as many Cabinets and other places ask for them, especially for use in gdocs, and we tend to give them out freely. I'm sure that my email is readily available to anyone who really wanted to find it. This is why a strong password is a must, or using a separate one, which is a better idea.
How do you password protect your buildings? I can't find no option for that here...
Perhaps she means the 4 digit passcode on your profile page
Yeah I just made that 4 digit passcode a few minutes ago...
Just remember to record the PIN somewhere safe. I'm always forgetting mine so I emailed it to myself to keep in my "stuff to keep" folder.
"I had one conversation with our past CP where I asked him (very bluntly) to explain his actions in capitulating so quickly to demands made by the FYROM CP."
"I had ONE discussion with him & yes it was not constructive - I flat out attacked his weakness in responding to an ambush by the CP of FRYOM & Chile."
Two quotes from the same person on the same day,,,,, yep I agree account was hacked certainly no split personality here
Took place in the same conversation.
Yep certainly no agenda you are pushing here Gugature is there
You should read her article after this...i've been having some fun with her and the best part is she denied saying she was hacked, y'know despite the accusation to Claire AND THIS ARTICLE!!!
I'm two clicking but i am enjoying this sport 😃
Wow, a calamity of issues which lead to you not to be able to get your account back easily. Glad that eRep and Ranger were able to help you out.
Mick it was my own lack of care that got me into the mess. It was Ranger Bob's assistance that allowed me to get out \o/
In fairness, you shouldn't really need to take a high level of care of these things, and it is not reasonable for people to take precautions to prevent an account being hacked aside from not telling others their password
Glad you got your account back Louise.
Thanks Binda, I was close to giving up
wait,
don't you need to know your email to login?
yes you do + password of course
then how have you been logging in all these years if you didnt know your email?
That's not actually what I said.
But to clarify, you log on to eRep with your email (i used something@hotmail.com)
But I only opened a hotmail email account for eRep. The email I used (something@excite.com) eRep did not like.
I never bothered to visit the hotmail email, and after 2 years hotmail just closed it)
When I pressed the reissue password button, eRep sent the info to the hotmail account which had lapsed.
So while that email address was OK of accessing my eRep account, I found I was unable to access the hotmail account itself.
Was this what you were querying lord braddy?
Sorry to hear it. Happened to me twice in eIreland. Never use the same email & pswrd in an eIrish forum, it still goes on regularly.
Aah Ireland land of song & rogues.
Strangely i miss the place
And actually I think I did do that - but it has been ages since I went there
They're still reviving accounts that are 3 years dead, so time has never been an issue for them. They've also hacked he RL emails, so if that's potentially a problem for you, sort that too.
Thanks for the heads up 🙂