WoW Exploitative Activity Found

[regor210]

This happened 6 days after installing the Northend expansion. I cut the emails down to save space.
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WoWAccountAdmin@blizzard.com Aug 12

World of Warcraft Exploitative Activity Found

Account Action: 72 Hour Suspension

This suspension happened because one or more characters on this account were identified using an unauthorized cheat program, also known as a ""hack.""
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Me
I call WoW and emailed them over and over explaining to them that I am not a Hacker nor do I use Botting software. I do use Ubuntu and the latest version of Wine.

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wowaccountadmin@blizzard.com Aug 19

Thank you for your continued correspondence. We have conducted an additional review of the action taken against the World of Warcraft account WOW1 and have arrived at the same conclusion. The account was found to have used unauthorized automation software (also known at "botting")
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Me Aug 18
Cancel our accounts and take us off your mailing list!

Do not charge are credit cards to maintain these accounts.

The reason for this is you have falsely accused me of Hacking! As a member of the free and open source software movement I find this extremely offensive! I believe your primary reason for falsely accusing me of hacking is my use of the GNU\Linux Ubuntu operating system, and the Wine compatibility layer........

So in conclusion, I have been playing WoW for about two and a half months. In that time you have falsely accused me of hacking once. So how long do I have to play before I get falsely accused of hacking again and how long will it be until you BAND me? I can’t use less than 0 hacking software so there is not anything I can do to stop the Inevitable conclusion. I have already spent a lot of time working on my characters and will miss them. The game is fun to play but this situation not of my making is unacceptable.
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wowgm@blizzard.com Aug 21

To protect the integrity of our investigation process, we do not disclose information about our investigation methods or findings. This includes, but is not limited to, the names of prohibited programs found to have been used.
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Me
So lets look at where I’m at.
1. I’m playing WoW using an OS that is not supported, ie Ubuntu. So in other words if I have problems I’m on my own.
2. We do not use Windows OS. Nor will I buy it to play WoW or any game.
3. There's no way for me to know why WoW falsely accused me of hacking.
After researching WoW on the web, my best guess is that Warden has trouble with Wine. But if this is true there should be more people reporting it?

So I Emailed them again asking for Michael Morhaime, president of Blizzard Entertainment, email address at Blizzard. I was hoping to make a request for an GNU\Linux Ubuntu client. I would have liked to make it known to him just how many of us Ubuntu customers there are in need of a WoW Ubuntu client. This seemed to upset someone as they sent me 2 satisfaction survey’s. And pushed my problem up to a supervisor. After more emails and a 2 week wait he sent me this.
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aasupervisor@blizzard.com Sep 7

I have personally reopened the case on this account's suspension to verify if the action was merited. Unfortunately, substantial evidence was found indicating this account participated in the use of unauthorized third-party software which enabled the automation of the character Charms, a severe violation of the World of Warcraft Terms of Use.......
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Me
I’m not angry at Blizzard. For what ever reason they believe I hacked them, But they are wrong.
I’m not angry at Wine. Wine is great, I have donated to them and will again. But with some programs Wine is no substitute for a native client.

Now we play WoW on private servers. Private servers lack the quality of Blizzard. Not the gaming experience I was looking for but they are better than getting banned from Blizzard. So now I’ll wait for Blizzard to wake up and smell the money they could make if they had an Ubuntu client.

Until then rest my sleeping friends.

[hikaricore]

Your spelling is atrocious.

[cwwilson721]

Bet there's more than that going on (what the OP stated). I've been playing wine/WoW for years. Never an issue. And Warden does NOTHING in wine (except check dll's).

Sounds like you probably logged on a machine, and either got got hacked, or it has/had "botting" software on it. Or you're not explaining everything.

And, most of all, why are you telling us? Sounds like a problem with Blizzard. Ubuntu/wine is working fine.

And you CAN get virus/malware/keyloggers/etc through wine. It's not common, but can be done. Especially if you went to sites via IE/wine.

And finally...USE YOUR SPELL CHECKER!!!

[Jazzy_Jeff]

I have been playing WoW on wine for almost 2 years with no issues. Maybe someone got your account info and logged on from another computer and did things they were not supposed to. I would recommend buying an Authenticator from Blizzard to protect your account. The best six dollars I ever spent.

[cwwilson721]

I have been playing WoW on wine for almost 2 years with no issues. Maybe someone got your account info and logged on from another computer and did things they were not supposed to. I would recommend buying an Authenticator from Blizzard to protect your account. The best six dollars I ever spent.

I got the Mobile Authenticator, ($0.99USD), and installed it on my computer.

Took awhile to figure out how, and work through the issues of Java, but was worth it to me. Took alot of Googling. (And, before ANYONE asks: NO. I will NOT help you do this)

[apostra]

Hello guys,

I'm playing wow without problems as well. However, i heard while ago a situation like this and the problem, was some add-ons and "clients" to install addons. There was a "hack" on these add-ons.

Any chance that would be your case? Check it out.

Check you addons and most important the sites you are downloading them. If you find a brand new addon looking good, give it some time for others to check it out. ( **for others who know how to check properly ).

Also might would be key-loggers. I'm not sure tho, since Blizz checks the IP from clients who hacks. So since they ban your IP, i think, the "hack" you got on you, its so nicely done.

Just thought to add my experience, dunno if that was your case or not, just added for references to viewers on this post.


Best Luck mate

[cwwilson721]

Check for ANY 'exe' files in your addons. That's a BIG no-no

[Jazzy_Jeff]

Hello guys,

I'm playing wow without problems as well. However, i heard while ago a situation like this and the problem, was some add-ons and "clients" to install addons. There was a "hack" on these add-ons.

Any chance that would be your case? Check it out.

Check you addons and most important the sites you are downloading them. If you find a brand new addon looking good, give it some time for others to check it out. ( **for others who know how to check properly ).

Also might would be key-loggers. I'm not sure tho, since Blizz checks the IP from clients who hacks. So since they ban your IP, i think, the "hack" you got on you, its so nicely done.

Just thought to add my experience, dunno if that was your case or not, just added for references to viewers on this post.


Best Luck mate

My account was hacked a while back from my sister's Windows computer. Some one got my information and did all kinds of things and got my account banned until I called them. It was from a different IP address than my sisters. Now she no longer uses my account...hehe. Live and learn.

[regor210]

Thanks guys. I checked and there are no .exe in my AddOns.

I don't know why I was singled out, but I can't play retail again until I know for sure. I don't want to get banned.

[ajackson]

I'd wipe the wine prefix containing WoW (should clear out any trojans, etc), reinstall WoW, get an authenticator, tie it to your account and then change the password.

That should have your account nice and secure, a lot of people play WoW using wine, while a couple of years back there was a problem with them getting flagged as doing illegal stuff there has been no mass outrage lately which suggests wine is not the cause.