RMT elements drain our resources with incessant account hacking. This is an Industry-wide problem and most MMOs are beset by non-stop issues with players’ assets and hard work being stolen and sold off for real money by organized criminal networks, who will stop at nothing in order to profit.

Until last summer we experienced regular issues with mass hacking a couple of times a year, usually around Christmas and then again in the middle of summer. Nowadays, this is pretty much constant with hundreds of accounts being targeted every day. Many of those are old trial accounts or accounts that have been disabled for years and don’t hold anything of value to the RMT types. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of accounts that do have assets and ISK that end up being cleaned out – even the characters themselves being sold off. The damages are sadly not repairable in some cases, regardless of valiant efforts by GameMasters to help the unfortunate victims. The cost in resources is high for Customer Support, with highly trained and experienced GMs working almost exclusively on hacking cases – good people whose time and talent would be much better spent on enhancing the gaming experience and increasing the quality of service we are able to give to our customers.

The methods the hackers use differ and constantly change but the result is always the same – your account is ruined. However, users can take steps to limit the chances of getting attacked and following is a list of things that can help make your accounts more secure.

Do not use the same usernames and passwords for different games
Every day, we see countless attempts to log in with pairs of usernames and passwords, amongst them many usernames that don’t exist in our systems. Obviously, those non-existing usernames have been harvested from somewhere else. They have been gathered via keyloggers, phishing sites, trojans, hacked forums and whatnot and long lists of such username/password pairs are traded between RMT types for use against gamer accounts all over the place. A good way to avoid problems with this is to simply use different login details for each game.

The same should also go for third-party sites and forums as those are quite often targeted by the hackers to harvest login details. Login details for such third-party sites may or may not be encrypted so keeping separate usernames and passwords for your gaming accounts is the way to go.

Change your passwords regularly
If your login details have been harvested, a regular change of passwords may prevent attacks from being successful.

Use strong passwords
Passwords should be complex and difficult to guess. Using a mix of numbers and small/capital letters can reduce the dangers from brute-forcing and lucky guesswork on part of the hackers. Avoid using common dictionary words and keep in mind that longer passwords are less vulnerable than short ones. A minimum length of 16 characters with a mix of lower case, capitals and numbers is strongly recommended for heightened security.

Do not share your login details with anyone
If you give someone your login details, your security is only as good as his. If he is hacked, you are hacked – given that he won’t simply use or sell your details himself.

Don’t accept files from sources you don’t know
A lot of the mal-ware on the Internet specifically targets gamer accounts. RMT in online gaming is a huge racket – your login details are a valuable commodity and the pitfalls are many. Keyloggers and trojans – all geared towards the destruction of your accounts lay in wait, poised to strike when you open that file or go to that website. Phising schemes abound and social engineering is rife, on an Internet that often seems without law or consequence. One cannot be too careful – it’s not paranoia when they’re really out to get you.

Regularly scan your systems for security threats with up-to-date anti-virus software
Protect yourself by running updated anti-virus software to find and fix security threats that may have found their way onto your systems. There are many such programs available, some free and some not free, but definitely worth spending time to set up and the money to purchase. It’s imperative to maintain a virus scanner and Operating System by actively checking for new updates and applying them, especially for the virus scanner. Using a firewall is also recommended as an optional measure.

Also see this forum discussion for more suggestions on better security.

By following the simple steps above you can make your accounts more secure and limit the dangers of being attacked by hackers who are after your stuff. Please be sure that we are not sitting idly by either – we are currently working hard on account security upgrades to get this problem under control. There are several items on the menu and the we hope to implement the first countermeasures in the next few weeks. However, we urge all of you to step up your own security at home by following the suggestions listed above.

Together we will vanquish this evil monster!

A small army of developers from CCP will be at GDC San Francisco (Game Developer’s Conference), March 9-13. Specifically booth #2505 in the Career Pavilion in the South Hall. As you can imagine, we’ll be doing some heavy recruiting, some interviews and lots of note-taking. We’ll also be talking shop on Tyrannis and would love to chat with any EVE fans who make the trip.

Powerpoints are prepared and black dev shirts have been ironed. Come join us at any of the four speaking sessions we’ll be a part of–from fighting the good fight against RMT to cloth simulation and from scaling EVE’s universe to scaling CCP itself.

Signs of Faith

“God; Emperor; Theology Council.” Nusi tapped the triangle he’d drawn on the board. “That’s the theological underpinnings, at least, and – luckily for you – this isn’t a politics class, so that’s all we cover.” He glanced up at the timepiece on the wall. “Well, that’s it for today’s material, and we still have time to spare. It wouldn’t do to let you go early, so…any questions?”

No, he reflected in the silence, it wouldn’t do to be too forward, would it? That would be gauche, under the circumstances. This group was a fast-track class; unprompted enthusiasm would be unseemly. He moved forward a little.

“Annoli, you were looking thoughtful a few minutes ago. What was troubling you?”

“Well…” she started slowly, “is it true that the Khanid aren’t allowed in the Council chambers?”

“Ah, I should’ve known it would involve his Highness. He’s too old for you, you know…” A few quiet chuckles rumbled around the room, and then a hand shot up. “Yes, Garund?”

“I’ve heard it’s never stopped him in the past, sir.” More laughter.

“Ok, ok, let’s not be having fun at his Highness’ expense.” Nusi shot a quick glance into the corner of the room. “Does anyone know the answer to Annoli’s question?”

A more furtive hand went up. “Aleine?”

“My pa tole me that it was the symbol that they dint like. He said there was something about it that upset them.”

“Good, very good. Yes, the Khanid people, be they Imperial citizens or Royal subjects, are allowed entrance, but the Royal Seal is…well, it’s not banned, per se, but it’s not welcome there either. Now, does anyone know why?”

A deeper silence, filled with thoughtful faces.

“Well, since we have time, I’ll explain properly. We’re going to go on a journey through some symbols, because you can’t really appreciate the significance of the situation until you understand the background. First–”

Nusi moved back to the board, wiped it clean, and drew a circle with a small inverted triangle at the base.

“What’s this? Teilf?”

“That’s, uh…the first man?”

“The first men, yes. Unbroken circle, God become man – looks a bit like an upside-down egg, I always thought. That’s probably symbolic of something, too… Anyway. First men. This leads to–”

A second symbol, one half-circle above the other, open sides away from each other, with the same inverted triangle at the base of the upper one.

“Do you know this one as well, Teilf? No? Adi?”

“Something to do with the dark?”

“Exactly. This is after the Fall and so on, during the Long Dark. Man and God entirely separate, with man below on his planets and God above in the heavens. An age of savagery and barbarism and general unenlightenment – an age which still persists to this day outside the confines of the Empire. And, yes Annoli, outside the Kingdom as well. His Highness remains an enlightened man in that respect. Which brings us to–”

A more familiar symbol, the two semicircles laid one on top of the other, with the upward-arcing one broken where the other crossed it.

“This one you know; it’s the Imperial Seal. When we came out of the Dark and formalized the Imperial Creed, man and God were reunited together again, albeit imperfectly. United but not conjoined, primacy of the Divine and the rest. This is Citizenship 101 stuff, which I’m told you’ve all passed now, yes? Good. Aleine, you have a question?”

“Yeah, uh..what does this have to do with the Khanid?”

“I’m getting to that! One final detail you need to know about the Imperial Seal. You remember from earlier that the Theology Council asserts that the rule of God comes before the rule of man? Well, the symbology at work here is the underpinning of that concept. Just as the Emperor above rules over the people below, so God above rules over man below. Primacy of the Divine isn’t sufficient: the implied heirarchy is critical to the rationale.

“So then. When Khanid II upped and left, Heideran–” a glance again into the corner of the room. “That is to say, of course, Emperor Heideran VII, immediately declared him in breach of precedent, along with various other things. The Theology Council, though, followed due process and sent a firmly worded message to Khanid inviting him to explain his actions. There was a bit of a delay, and then his Highess (as he is now) replied with this–”

The same symbol again, but drawn upside-down.

“The delivery was, in fact, a very nice rendering of the Imperial Seal, done carefully in his House colors, but inverted.”

Nusi looked around. A lot of blank faces, but a few sparks of dawning comprehension.

“Rial, what property of this little sign is making your eyes bulge in such a curious manner?”

“If…well, if…if the Council gets its authority…the thing on top… If the Imperial Seal is saying that God’s law is better than man’s law, then…” The student glanced back over his shoulder.

“Then the Royal Seal is saying that man’s law is, shall we say, more important than God’s law. It’s a historical discussion; nobody’s saying that it’s true. But yes, that’s what Khanid was trying to say – or at least, that’s how the Council interpreted it. With a single, simple image, he denied the theological root of the Council’s authority, telling them that he could damn well do as he saw fit, so long as he broke no secular law – which he hadn’t, because Heirs are above such things. How, do you suppose, did the Council react to this…Indlar?”

“I guess maybe they weren’t very happy?”

“Hah! You’re damn right they weren’t happy! They passed down judgement pretty promptly after that, and even though those Justices have all since passed on, the Council as an institution still hasn’t forgiven Khanid. That’s why it’s extremely unwise to take the Royal Seal into the Council chambers. They see it as a direct challenge to their authority, even now. Teilf, you have a question?”

“Didn’t they, like, know about the symbol before? Like when Khanid started using it or something?”

“No, because Khanid’s reply was the first time anybody had seen it! It seems that he made it up just for this purpose, but decided to keep it afterward as his Royal Seal. Only his Highness knows exactly why, but once he made the decision, he stuck with it. There’s other readings of it, too, and again, nobody but Khanid knows which ones are intended and which aren’t. For example, given this – the inverted Imperial Seal or the Royal Seal or however you want to think of it – you can arrive at this–”

The second symbol, with the two separated semicircles, but inverted.

A glance again into the corner of the room. “This symbol is frowned upon, but I’m allowed to explain it in this context so you know the truth. I’m not going to ask you to speculate on its meaning; there are many ways to interpret this, some of which you may come across over the years, but there’s only one correct interpretation, which is that the Imperial Creed is part of our heritage and our culture and our very identity, but that our future is among the stars. I stress again that Khanid II has never indicated that his Seal implies anything more than rejection of the Council’s authority, and that other readings of the symbology here are simply incorrect. And that, I hope, answers the original question in a reasonably comprehensive manner.”

A hand crept up lazily in the back corner of the room.

“Zweir, you have something to ask?”

“You’ve shown us five symbols. What about the sixth?”

Nusi stared long and hard at the boy, and then answered with a smile that contained no hint of mirth.

“There is no sixth symbol, and that’s all we have time for today. Class dismissed.”

Kamela, The Bleak Lands – The Star Fraction has been the victim of corporate theft with two towers worth over one billion isk being stolen by former director Misan Pal’taek, now a member of Stimulus (a member corporation of Rote Kapelle), and two associates.

The Star Fraction member Jade Constantine described how the theft was conducted: “[Misan Pal'taek] employed two agents: the first was a tower gunner who actually did the unanchoring of our defense towers, he was named Taloc Tsukuyomi; he was aided by another of Misan’s agents, an industrial pilot named Sevok Kurouto. All three are, [from now on, put on a 'Kill On Sight' list] by the Star Fraction and in time we will take our revenge against them.“

Jade Constantine explained that Kamela is an important staging point for The Star Fraction and key to their low-security system operations. She considers the loss of these towers less of an isk problem and more of a strategic issue as not only did the thief steal the towers, increasing the vulnerability of Star Fraction forces in the system, but also “[Misan Pal'taek] informed Sev3rance of this weak point. We struggled to replace the staging towers and were immediately attacked by Sev3rance and the CVA.”

Former The Star Fraction Director Misan Pal’taek commented “I had left an associate in The Star Fraction star base holder corporation, Hebog y Tan. He simply unanchored the two towers in Kamela, taking all the ammo and modules with some unnamed assistance,“ She firmly denied the alleged involvement with CVA and Sev3rance – “I never actively worked with any CVA forces. I currently am fighting several CVA [allies] nearby actually, Fidelas Constans and the past couple of weeks against Tread Alliance and Ishuk-Raata Enforcement Directive.“

Shortly after this event one of the allegedly-involved pilots was shot down by The Star Fraction, causing a allegations of hypocrisy regarding their NRDS policy. Star Fraction’s public response was to state that shooting someone involved in an act of theft is clearly a case of valid hostility but calls for a public release of verifiable evidence continue.

Lustrevik, Heimatar – Silver Night of Re-Awakened Technologies Inc, Electus Matari is sponsoring a writing contest, wherein he wants to hear pilot-authored stories of the people of New Eden.

Whereas much of the news and fiction popular amongst pilots surrounds the comings and goings of the capsuleer community, this contest will judge the best story concerning the doings of any citizen other than a capsuleer.

Silver Night reminded potential entrants that there is more to New Eden than spacecraft, stating that there are also “mining colonies, planets, moons and stations” adding “the possibilities are nearly limitless.”

The prizes range from rare pirate faction battleships with 300 million isk provided for fittings, to Fleet-issue battleships and cruisers.

Entries for Silver Night’s contest can be up to 3,000 words long and must be submitted by 21:55 on the 21.03.112.

GalNet References
Silver’s First Annual Fiction Contest