while this horrible attack is plaguing the game what should I be doing to keep my account safe? should I try logging in? should I avoid logging in so they cant get my account info? I don't know what to do here because nobody has gone over account safety during all this and I am worried I will be banned or hacked. what should I do?
This is a really good question. I have an idea what to do because I know what DDoS attacks are and do, but I don't wanna be spreading information that isn't official. I have no idea to which extent the current DDoS attacks are. This question should be answered, hopefully by @Dworgyn . Good question
while this horrible attack is plaguing the game what should I be doing to keep my account safe? should I try logging in? should I avoid logging in so they cant get my account info? I don't know what to do here because nobody has gone over account safety during all this and I am worried I will be banned or hacked. what should I do?
The DDos attacks do not target your computer or your personal information, they simply disrupt communication from the server.
A DDoS (Or distributed denial of service) attack does little to nothing to you as the end user except cause some inconvenience.
The purpose of a DDoS is merely to take a bunch of (already compromised computers/nodes) and use them to send 'useless' traffic at a specific target (or targets) all at once - therefore overloading them with 'garbage traffic'.
As an end user you are at little risk of having your account information etc being compromised.
I would be more wary of that suspicious email or file download from an unknown/unreputable site more than I would of a DDoS on a service provided by KI.
while this horrible attack is plaguing the game what should I be doing to keep my account safe? should I try logging in? should I avoid logging in so they cant get my account info? I don't know what to do here because nobody has gone over account safety during all this and I am worried I will be banned or hacked. what should I do?
This is a denial of service attack. It's a pretty serious hack, and one KI doesn't seem to know how to fix, but our information should be safe. You can try to log in, but if you get into the game, you most likely won't be able to play for long before getting booted out.
It's now been 2 days without stable game service, and though they assure us they are "working on it," I'm unsure of how long it will be wonky.
As far as I know, your usernames, credit card information, and passwords are completely safe. And for now, it is still safe to log onto the game unless KingsIsle directly says you shouldn't.
A DDoS (Or distributed denial of service) attack does little to nothing to you as the end user except cause some inconvenience.
The purpose of a DDoS is merely to take a bunch of (already compromised computers/nodes) and use them to send 'useless' traffic at a specific target (or targets) all at once - therefore overloading them with 'garbage traffic'.
As an end user you are at little risk of having your account information etc being compromised.
I would be more wary of that suspicious email or file download from an unknown/unreputable site more than I would of a DDoS on a service provided by KI.
Stay safe!
Without trying to cause too much panic, a DDoS could also be used as a "smokescreen" in order to allow other, more sinister practices, to take place, such as theft.
Though I'm certain that KingsIsle is taking care of things accordingly, it would not hurt to keep an eye on your information, especially when it comes to whatever payment methods you may have used for the game.
I don't know why we should assume a DDOS is all they are doing or will do. So it's good practice to always change a password if you even think there might be a security breach.
It is also good practice to never use the same password more than one place.
If, for some reason, you have the same userID and password on another site, do change that. Right now. (And don't do that anymore!)
Once this attack is fully behind us, then it will be okay to change your password on Wizard101.
It's very unlikely that the people behind this attack have access to the data on the servers - what they have is something like the servers' phone numbers. They're 'calling' them over and over, from an army of corrupted computers and devices. It's like when you try to call in for a radio contest and all you get is a busy signal. Unfortunately, it's very easy to do that. It's not so easy to break through security encryption to get at actual data...
But if they did break in, changing your password during the attack will only let them know what your new password is if they actually do have access to the server data. So it's best to stay off of Wizard101 for now, then change the password when the attacks end.
Alia Misthaven