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The lead plaintiff, Benjamin Bell, is suing Blizzard and Activision Blizzard. He is seeking damages for consumer fraud, unjust enrichment, negligence, breach of contract, and bailment. He says that the company makes players pay $6.40 for an Authenticator in order to ensure that their private information is kept private.
"Defendants negligently, deliberately, and/or recklessly fail to ensure that adequate, reasonable procedures safeguard the private information stored on this website. As a result of these acts, the private information of plaintiffs and class members has been compromised and/or stolen since at least 2007," according to the 33-page complaint.
"Most recently, on or about May 19, 2012, reports proliferated that class members' Battle.net accounts had suffered a security breach ('hack') at the hands of unknown parties ('hackers'), and on or about August 4, 2012, hackers massively breached Battle.net's security and acquired the private information of all of defendants' customers in the United States, as well as the remainder of North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia."
"Most recently, on or about May 19, 2012, reports proliferated that class members' Battle.net accounts had suffered a security breach ('hack') at the hands of unknown parties ('hackers'), and on or about August 4, 2012, hackers massively breached Battle.net's security and acquired the private information of all of defendants' customers in the United States, as well as the remainder of North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia."
Blizzard issued their own statement to the lawsuit.
This suit is without merit and filled with patently false information, and we will vigorously defend ourselves through the appropriate legal channels.
We want to reiterate that we take the security of our players’ data very seriously, and we’re fully committed to defending our network infrastructure. We also recognize that the cyber-threat landscape is always evolving, and we’re constantly working to track the latest developments and make improvements to our defenses.(...)
Considering that players are ultimately responsible for securing their own computers, and that the extra step required by the Authenticator is an added inconvenience during the log in process, we ultimately leave it up to the players to decide whether they want to add an Authenticator to their account. However, we always strongly encourage it, and we try to make it as easy as possible to do.
Many players have voiced strong approval for our security-related efforts. Blizzard deeply appreciates the outpouring of support it has received from its players related to the frivolous claims in this particular suit.
We want to reiterate that we take the security of our players’ data very seriously, and we’re fully committed to defending our network infrastructure. We also recognize that the cyber-threat landscape is always evolving, and we’re constantly working to track the latest developments and make improvements to our defenses.(...)
Considering that players are ultimately responsible for securing their own computers, and that the extra step required by the Authenticator is an added inconvenience during the log in process, we ultimately leave it up to the players to decide whether they want to add an Authenticator to their account. However, we always strongly encourage it, and we try to make it as easy as possible to do.
Many players have voiced strong approval for our security-related efforts. Blizzard deeply appreciates the outpouring of support it has received from its players related to the frivolous claims in this particular suit.
On one hand, Blizzard does offer up a free Android, iOS, and Windows Phone Authenticator app free of charge. On the other hand, if you don't have one of those phones you are left only with the paid option for an officially supported security measure.
And then on the third hand, my account was compromised years ago without being phished and with no key loggers found on my machine, which was a move that essentially forced me to purchase an Authenticator so that it wouldn't happen again. Needless to say, I might have some bias in this whole ordeal. This came at a time where a number of people were reporting similar account hijackings within a span of a couple of months, leading some to believe that these hijackings were nothing more than a ploy from Blizzard to get people to buy an Authenticator.
(via Game Informer)
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