Account Security on the Dev Blog

Yeah, there's not much more of a boring blog topic than account security. This is still an incredibly important topic however. The latest Dev Blog offers the following "standard" suggestions:

Do not use the same usernames and passwords for different games

Commonly happens, but not a good idea, especially in the passwords arena.

Change your passwords regularly

Generally a good idea. Just make sure you have a way to keep track of them. I use an App that auto-destructs the data if the wrong password for it is entered one too many times.

Use strong passwords

don't just use "password" or "coolermaster" as a password. The best passwords are like "p9G$wk45#" it's random. The problem is that it's hard to remember.

Do not share your login details with anyone

This is a "no kidding"

Don't accept files from sources you don't know

Not a bad idea, but considering most of this stuff comes in via a friend or family member's computer being compromised. So it probably came from a trusted source. Granted, many people do click on the random phish.

Regularly scan your systems for security threats with up-to-date anti-virus software

This is a given, and easier than ever with free AV software. However, given the number of variants of Trojan.Vundo alone ("You are infected" "Scan now" "Fix Errors") and the number of years it's been around, you'll find out pretty quick that even having updated AV (and AS) can still leave you vulnerable. One of my underlings spends a lot of time re-imaging computers infected with variants of that bugger. Oh yeah, we have AV software on all computers, plus filtering, firewalls, et al.

Unfortunately none of this would have helped me, or my wife. In the wife's case, it used a flaw in Windows to get a logger on her computer. I've never found a bug on any computer I use to play Eve, months later. I've not had a recurrence either.

I still say Eve should use something dismissed by the CSM in the latest meeting:

One option is to sell random number generators but the CSM expressed doubt that a significant number of players would utilize that option.

First off to the CSM: Get a freakin' clue. Blizzard had those little "authenticators" (read: a Vasco random number generator) sold out for months. Go look the price history up on eBay. They were being sold for over 10 times their value because Blizzard underestimated, or there wasn't enough production capacity available, the demand for them. Everyone I know has one, because all it takes is one friend to have a compromised account and the hassles generated by that, for you to want to protect your own account.

Second off, they're optional and extremely useful.

Finally, it's almost impossible to crack such a system without the physical "key" in your hand.

If you're serious about account security, you'll consider one. I even have one for my rarely used PayPal account. I have one for WoW / Battle.net protection. I have a "Smartcard" for protecting my work. I even have a card to let me in the door at work.

Security is something that is done in layers. Usernames and Passwords are fine at first. In the MMO world, however, as your game becomes popular you need to offer more tools to protect your players from unscrupulous people. They are almost always people selling (in this case) illegally obtained ISK. Eve has been getting more and more press. Eve has been attracting more and more players. This makes the universe a bigger and bigger target.

So I would ask CCP to take a chance, the same chance Blizzard took. Offer two-factor authentication to your players. Heck, I'll get one as fast as I can if it's offered.

Evespace and Updates

Well I'll hop on the train late here and here's my secondary Evespace. Mostly this is used watching my daughter so I can play with her and still use a logitech wireless keyboard / mouse. To my corpies, this is why I sometimes cannot get on vent.



Yeah, it's a 55" Sammy being fed by an Asus notebook. I only use this when my daughter isn't feeling well and I don't want to be too far from her nor have her in the computer room.

Evespace Primary



Dual Sammy 22" monitors, G13, Ideazon Merc Stealth, Logitech MX518, i7-920, MSI X58 Pro-E, 6GB Mushkin, GTX 275. I'm thinking of upgrading to a new GTX470/480 but will wait for the performance numbers. Yes I work on a lot of stuff at home. What you don't see is the server rack (in the next room, as well as 3 cisco routers, a few switches, Windows Home Server, secondary PC (being rebuilt for my brother now that I don't need it), and a networked color laser. Toss in the wife's PC (3D Vision w/ Viewsonic 120hz and Sammy 22" like mine) and her work supplied laptop.



The centerpiece being Stewie: "Mark my words, when you least expect it, your uppance will come."

Finally got done moving to null. New toys include a couple of Stealth Bombers for the main and a slow progression to battleships for him. Basically getting all the Int/Mem skills out of the way before remapping to Per/Wil

The alt is still just that. I use him to haul stuff (getting ready for itty 5) and killing minor stuff while the main mines. He can also be extra firepower on a mission, but I only PvP with one account at a time.

Oh well, off to bed.

Supreme Commander 2

Okay, so color me surprised, but I loved Supreme Commander (and Forged Alliance). Why then, did Chris Taylor's Gas Powered Games have to dumb down the economy in version 2 of the game so much? I understand modifying the game a bit, that's the way it goes. Supreme Commander, however, was about controlling strategic points in the game. You couldn't have a prayer of winning if you just took over 4 mass points. No way, no how. The other person would always obliterate you. The game was about strategic map control. After 6 games...

Now, not so much. After I lost my first match. No biggie, except for how I lost. The guy had 4 mass extractors and 4 power generators. My shielded, buffed (research) land units were obliterated by 4 defensive towers. Don't get me wrong, you could turtle in the old game, but it wasn't very effective. You couldn't maintain the economy of replacing units lost vs being made. You couldn't maintain your shields without power, you had to watch what you were building or your economy would crash, especially as a turtle. I had a friend who had the world's nastiest turtle in the original game, he even came in second in a number of tourneys. I'm used to killing a turtle.

The trick is, I'm used to a turtle having a severely limited economy. I'm used to the turtle having to fight harder to maintain unit parity.

One thing I will smack up GPG over is the new "research tree" stuff. I can understand wanting to get rid of the throwaway nature of units, but it's far too easy now for someone that's doing almost nothing map wise to power up their units. There is no associated rise in cost here. Bing! the units have more health, shields (don't get me started on regeneration...), with zero cost, all at once. In the old game, upgrading your units meant spending mass and energy.

I tested this theory. I played against a friend whom has won tournaments and went turtle twice. Once was a commander rush (standard tactic in tourneys, where matches are usually decided in less than 4 minutes really) and the second was a more traditional steady attack. I was able to not only hold off both attacks, and indeed even win, while holding only the initial territory from landing. The final test, well, he won, but I did nothing. I didn't even build artillery. I still managed to build experimental units and put up one heck of a fight.

Now, if you didn't play the original game, it was frentic. Many matches were decided, as I said, within 4 minutes (in 1v1) from start. The game was difficult, especially in multiplayer, when you first started. Why? The tech levels, you didn't just get them magically, you had to take time and mass and energy to get them.

Now some people might say "but you have to build research structures!" Meh. There's not much to that. I got tons of crap built while building multiple research structures. The trick is, there's only a tiny (a fraction of the original) cost to it.

Don't get me wrong. Supreme Commander 2 isn't a terrible game. My problem is that they've dumbed it down a lot. How much? Well, to the point where playing the isolated turtle is almost better (in fact probably is better) than being the expansionist attacker on many maps.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go turtle a bit for some easy wins. 3 out of 5 this time Chris.

The Swarm

Yeah, I've decided to weight in on this. Couple of caveats here:

1) Goonswarm meant squat to me. I wasn't near them on the map and never ran into little bee overtly.

2) The whole BoB meta-gaming thing, meh, whatever.

3) One Goonie renter, Igneus Auctiora (or somesuch) wanted to recruit me at one point and wanted 500m ISK up front to whit I told'em I didn't have it. That was mostly true, but the 100% truth would have been I didn't have 500m ISK to lose wantonly. Personally I think it's bullsh*t to even ask for that kind of fee just to run a security check, even if you offer to give it back upon completion.

The Failswarm (as they have been called) lost Sov do to not paying bills. This was caused by, in no small part, the structure of their Corporation / Alliance. They structured it this way because of their own paranoia after they meta-gamed BoB (now folded into IT) out of ISK, Sovereignty, and an Alliance. This is, quite literally, the flip side of the coin. NOBODY really had access to the money to pay bills from the Alliance treasury itself. Wait, it get's worse. Nobody had the reserves, brains, or gumption to take care of it themselves.

Just like bees, Goonswarm was lost without the leader of the hive whom happened to be on a PLANNED vacation. This shows another flaw in their organization, no real secondary structure. Nobody stepped up. Nobody screamed across the alliance channels "HOLY F*CKING CHR*ST! WE NEED MONEY NOW OR THE ALLIANCE WILL BE F*CKED!!!" and had those below (or above) in the structure listen.

This is a failure on so many levels. Even the officers (individual non-officer characters can probably be forgiven of not knowing the bills issue right away) seemed to be blindsided by this. Talk about a lack of communication.

One person, well a couple groups, weren't sleeping on the job. IT, Sys-K, and AAA all went to town when sov dropped on the swarm. This shows another thing: spend months talking smack and you'll make more than a few enemies. This smarmy forum ninjitsu they've engaged in before this incident leads me to believe that they didn't get sh*t out of NOL. Simply by saying they did, they're hoping to get the others to let their guard down.

Nor will I place all the blame for this on karttoon. Much as the swarm would like to believe, it's not all his fault. Whom setup the structure? I'm wagering Darius J. did from his talk of karttoon getting the keys to a smoothly running setup. Pardon me Darius, should you not have set it up that way. For whomever did, you are 50 types of fail. Heck, go over to the Fail Blog and see how many people fail just like you.

Will the swarm be back? Yeah, probably. Will they be as potent as before? Well they'll have to adapt to new tactics. We'll see in about a year. I wouldn't doubt, if their leader has a bit of sense, that they'll avoid being near IT, Sys-K, and AAA at first if they make another push into null.

"Cloaky" Things

Phantam apparently misunderstood what I meant by my "Industrialist with Teeth" request for a "Mimic" or "Chameleon" module.

you say you want this cloaky thing? why its a team game, if you get suicide gank'd you get kill rights, go get a combat ship and pop the fu*ker that popped you!

Precisely, it's a team game. I'm the guy on the team that fly's a Stealth Bomber so that's cloaky. What I was asking for, however, was a set of modules that would let the wolves hide with the sheep. Look, I'm a sneaky bastich by nature. I usually consider violence to be an uneconomical way to achieve an end, i.e. usually there's a better way. To quote Salvor Hardin; "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

However, I am not against protecting oneself. The trick is, for suicide ganking, there really isn't any protection, other than being in a ship that can tank the alpha. I've got some pretty good tanking skills, put me in a tanked Drake or Myrmidon and watch me soak the damage. Now how to trick the enemy? They aren't going to attack me if they see me in the Drake, and get Concordokken, because they want the defenseless mining barge they can easily blow up.

I want their tears. This let's me get them, and let's me let them do all the hard work, all I have to do is laugh and salvage.

Still, it goes further than that. Group mining ops, guy decides to steal from a JC because he doesn't see anything threatening he can't handle. I mean, it's only 9 barges, 5 exhumers, and an Orca, nothing to fear! What if he had to worry that some of those sheep might be wolves? There's no more of the dead giveaway (12 guys on the op visible, but 15 in system and there's no station) of the wolves hiding.

Of course another Hardin quote is in order here: "An atomic blaster is a good weapon, but it can point both ways." There's nothing to prevent the pirates from using this. Well other than the fact that if they're low enough sec status they'll still be blinky. Granted they'll have to fit it to a black ops / covert ship of some sort to lose the lock on penalty, and those ships cost more.

That's the module Phantam. It's not a cloak, it's a Chameleon. You look like you're flying a MB / Exhumer (and it even fake fires the appropriate laser based on target type, with no gathering of course), but it really just allows the wolf to hide amongst the sheep, ready to pounce.

Hulkageddon Sideline

I don't have great salvage skills, sad but true. Still, while a bud tries his alt account idea, I've whiled away some time salvaging the ganker's ships and looting afk'ers. I can't salvage T2 yet :(

My friend? He'll probably become infamous to the SG's if his plan works. He set up a dozen trial accounts and got them some propulsion jamming, cheap T1 frigs, and is working on distances to pod them. He figures he'll earn a few ganker tears if they're dumb enough to fly with implants. I guess owning some domains and being able to generate however many email accounts for 14 day trials as you want has it's advantages. Oh, and he can salvage T2.

Me? I've already gotten some tasty tears by looting and salvaging before the ganker alt arrived. :)


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Merry Christmas

Or Happy Hannakuh, belated Saturnilia, whatever you choose. May your holiday(s) be safe and joyful. In the real world and in Eve, good cheer to you!


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