WoW Account Security Awareness

Security reminder from Blizzard.
Blizzard posted this reminder today. Remember to always visit the official site through the URL and do not click any links there if you want to change anything. Verify the URL too!

Account security is very important to us. As we have recently seen a rise in the number of compromised World of Warcraft accounts, we recommend you to take a few moments to read these tips to help protect your privacy and ensure your security.

* Verify that your email address in Account Management is current. You can see your address on the right side of the Account Management page and change it with the "Change Contact Info" button.
* Make sure your operating system, web browser, and other software is up-to-date with the latest patches and security updates.
* Scan your computer for viruses, Trojans, and key loggers.
* After doing this, we highly recommend changing the password on the account to a brand-new, unique one, and making sure to keep this password private.

These simple steps can go a long way in maintaining account security. If you are seeking an additional layer of security, consider purchasing the optional Blizzard Authenticator, available at the online Blizzard Store. For more security tips, please visit our World of Warcraft Account Security page.

We hope you have a happy -- and safe -- holiday season!

And below is collected from wow forums, maybe it's useful for the rookies to protect the account.

Basic security tips for safeguarding your account.

1. Never share your account info with anyone. Even if you trust your best friend 100%, can you be 100% sure his machine isn't infected?

2. Don't make yourself a target by bragging about how much gold you have.

3. Never use a word or common phrase as a password. A bot will crack it in minutes. Mix caps, and numbers into the password, and make it a dozen letters or more long. A long password written down is much more secure than one kept short for the sake of memorization. If you have "PoPcorn7donKEYbutt" written on the back of a random business card there's little chance of someone getting hold of it and immediately assuming it's your WoW login.

4. Free is nice, but does your antivirus work? Nearly every single machine I've had to repair due to a virus infection, at work and elsewhere, has been "protected" by AVG. If you don't want to pay for a decent AV, at least let one scan your system for free once in a while. http://www.eset.com/onlinescan/

5. Sites that sell gold try to install trojans and keyloggers on your machine when you visit them. Where did you think they got all that gold?

6. Limewire and IRC filesharing are among the biggest vectors for malware into people's computers. Unless you are quite savvy, and well protected, use them at your own risk.

7. The Blizzard authenticator is a must on shared and public computers.

For US residents:
http://www.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=1100000182

For Canada, Australia, New Zealand & Latin America:
http://www.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=1100000222

Europe:
http://eu.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=221003132

Korea:
http://kr.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=3310000067