Zalmoran Account Suspension - 48 Hours Later

Greetings Readers,

It's now been 48 hours since my World of Warcraft account was suspended for "economy exploit". Again, I wish I could report that I have received a response from Blizzard at this point but, sadly, I have not.

I spent yesterday evening checking and rechecking my system for viruses to ensure that there was not a Trojan or key-logger on the system. In order to ensure I was as likely to catch anything as possible, I used a trio of security software. First I used the built in Windows Defender. I do not have a great amount of faith in it, but it's a start. I then also did a full system scan with Lavasoft's AdAware. It turned up 3 cookies, and nothing else. Figuring it was very unlikely a cookie could have created a security vulnerability for a key-logger or software for tracking the login, I pressed on.

At the recommendation of several friends, and because it's a recognized partner of Microsoft, with Vista-compatible anti-virus software, I used Panda Security's 2009 Anti-virus software. Running in safe-mode, I did a full system scan once again with Panda, Windows Defender, and AdAware. The net total of this effort: the removal of 12 cookies. No additional suspect software located.

All in all, it does not seem likely that a virus or key-logger was used to track my account information. However, we did find 2 viruses on my roommate's computer. For his security software, he had chosen AVG Anti-Virus. As mentioned, two viruses were detected on his machine. Unfortunately he did not provide me the information on what these were, so I am unable to relate them further. However, I would hope they would not have provided a threat toward my account, since the only way to deal with that from another system should be through packet-sniffing the router, and I would sincerely hope that Blizzard is using proper encryption algorithms and either SSL or TLS for transmission.

Luckily, since my roommate is still able to access his account, we were able to both post in the forums regarding this issue (which I will provide a link for when I am able. Work systems do not allow access to World of Warcraft), and we were also able to contact members of the guild for me to get outside contact information.

I have to say that I am very thankful to our guild master, RayneRaven. After I explained the situation to him, he has been proactive in assisting me in at least gaining more information on what is going on with my account. He is posting a ticket in game to try to get a GM response on at least a more detailed reason for the suspension. I appreciate it greatly as I am somewhat concerned about logging in again, even after the suspension, without knowing what caused it. I wouldn't want to have another infraction, since I'm already on final warning.

Anyway, that's about all I've got to say about the situation at the moment. I hope that I will be able to provide more information soon, but I do have my doubts that I will be hearing anything today. I figure I'll be lucky to hear anything before the suspension is automatically lifted.

In time, this and all things will pass into eternity.

Zalmoran (US - Kirin Tor)