Just another one of those days...yes indeed, it is.
Came home from classes yesterday, logged in another MMO I like to spend on my spare time (Silkroad). Logged in, only to find all my items are gone, gold is down to 0, and my wolf is missing. LOVELY.
Of course, they did their best to do as much damage as possible: Stripped the account of any valuables, left my avatar with nothing but the clothes on his back, and lastly placed him in the toughest part of the map. At this time I'm flippin' out. Yep, I've been hacked. Quickly exited, did double and triple sweeps of virius/hacker/spyware/whatnot software, changed all my passwords on every game account I currently play on, updated firewalls and protective stuff. Logged in this morning and everything was still there, but I'm still on alert. That was the worst of it right there.
However, it could have been worse, belive it or not...they could've changed the password before I did and really lost everything. It appears only that game account was hacked (my EU is still in untouched condition), and a few other ingame situations that seemed to remedy my fatal-looking situation. Of course, the company that runs the game states any hacking is falut at the victim, and "TDB" on any investagations to actually stop hacking. The real kicker is that the game comes with some software that's actually suppose to prevent that kind of stuff...lol. I really could've lost most that stuff and wouldn't affect me much, but the wolf being gone I hate the most...spent alot of time with that, and should I be roaming around and find 'sir_odd' running around, I shall know who hit me.
Like I said, pretty much everything's missing, but with new counter-measures in place it should prevent any more attempts. All I can do right now is pick myself up, dust off my shoulders and continue running. While it is a major roadblock, I've spent too many hours on that game just to go "oh well". With time, I will get back to full strength, and prosper once again.
It's one of those "it'd never happen to me" sort of deals. Well it did, and it hurts, I can tell ya that now. So for the sake of your account security, update and keep current your Virus/spyware/hacker protections, as these are here for a purpose. Getting the gold card is also a must for those putting in large amounts into the game. Again, I was fortute that it only attacked the one game, and no real money was lost in the attack. So if my days in EU are absent for a bit, it's due to me licking my wounds and doing repair work.
~cheers, sir odd.
EDIT: I may have broken a rule or two about talking about something else, thus edit if needed but I'm mearly noting my absence.