Origin Account Hijackings on the Rise - Time to Change Your Password

[Shawn Zipay]

There are increasing reports from Origin users that their accounts have been hijacked. Users are reporting that they have received an email from EA's Origin telling them that changes to their account, including username and password, that were made successfully without their knowledge.

Though nothing really new, the frequency of these account hijackings has been increased dramatically in the past week. A thread on NeoGAF highlights some users that this has happened to, including a number of threads on EA's own forums.

Though it's probably nothing to get too worried about, it is probably a good idea to change your password if you haven't done so in a while.

(via NeoGAF)

[jimykx]

Again?

[cikame]

Doesn't an e-mail get sent to the account owner in order to confirm changes?
Why would someone be able to change anything without that?

[Shawn Zipay]

Doesn't an e-mail get sent to the account owner in order to confirm changes?
Why would someone be able to change anything without that?

No email was sent. I just tested on mine when I changed my password after having logged into Origin. You want to change your password? Bam, done. That's a huge security flaw there.

[Anarchy1]

The worst part is that the only way EA support can "confirm" your identity as being the original account owner is with your birthday. Because your birthday isn't readily available on the internet, right? And because everyone puts their real birthday in when they sign up!

Honestly, I would be screwed if this happened to me. I don't know what birthday I registered my account with. I know the date because I receive birthday emails from Origin, but I don't know what year. It wasn't my real year of birth because I too young to make an account when I did. So if someone hacks me, I can't get my account back.

[jimykx]

Exactly the same as Anarchy