ArenaNet to integrate Google Authenticator for Guild Wars 2 account security

Guild Wars 2

ArenaNet president Mike O'Brien continued the Guild Wars 2 developer's player community outreach today with a helpful overview on safeguarding accounts against hacking. Among the tips was an announcement by O'Brien of plans for Google Authenticator integration with Guild Wars 2.

As part of an explanatory look at two-factor authentication - when a normal password login gets challenged with a randomly generated code - O'Brien said ArenaNet adopted Google's established authentication system after toying with homegrown solutions.

O'Brien expects a roll-out of the authentication system in about two weeks, but in the meantime, he pointed out the benefits of e-mail authentication and having strong passwords composed of multiple words, linking to an xkcd comic illustrating password best practices.

A blacklist housing "over 20 million" passwords also keeps vigil over your account, according to O'Brien. Its goal is to cut down commonly used passwords hackers constantly scan for and automatically blacklisting old passwords once a player changes it.

"This system has substantially eliminated hackers' ability to steal new accounts, as all new accounts now cannot possibly match what the hackers have been scanning for," O'Brien wrote. "The rate of account hacking was about 1.5 percent for accounts created before this blacklist was in place, and is about 0.1 percent for accounts created after."

Omri Petitte

Omri Petitte is a former PC Gamer associate editor and long-time freelance writer covering news and reviews. If you spot his name, it probably means you're reading about some kind of first-person shooter. Why yes, he would like to talk to you about Battlefield. Do you have a few days?

Latest in MMO
A goblin with sharp teeth, wearing goggles, lets out a mischievous cackle in WoW's latest patch: Undermine(d).
The hooligan hacker guild that tore up WoW's newest raid (twice) just posted video evidence of the whole thing, and it's got me feeling weirdly nostalgic
Dune Awakening
Dune Awakening's latest trailer offers a glimpse of its massive coriolis storms, which reshape swathes of the map each week for 'infinite exploration'
Concept art of WoW's upcoming player housing system, showing a warm homestead with a welcoming figure in shade.
WoW flexes its MMO player housing system in a new blog post, and it really might just beat FF14's dated furniture placement into the dirt
Orithopter shooting down another in Dune
Dune: Awakening confirms air-to-air combat in ornithopters
Defiance players
A dead MMO that launched with a now-cancelled TV show in 2013 is coming back 4 years after servers were shut down
Gallywix wears an uneasy smile as he's confronted by Xal'atath in WoW: The War Within.
World of Warcraft guild uses exploits to get world 'first' on the game's new raid, gets banned, puts its name backwards and does it again
Latest in News
A woman with an arcane slingshot uses it to light a distant fire
Deconstructeam's next game is about training to shoot a single fireball at an impossible target
assassin's creed shadow naoe
We asked two parkour athletes to rate the realism of Assassin's Creed's acrobatics, and a surprising 'crime against parkour' might actually be one of the most realistic things they saw
Mechs fight on the outside of a spaceship
MechWarrior 5: Clans is getting DLC with playable Elementals and a fight on the outside of a spaceship
Aloy - Horizon
'I feel worried about this art form:' Unsurprisingly, the real Aloy from Horizon isn't a fan of AI Aloy
Crying laughing emoji with disturbing realistic elements for REPO
REPO's first update will add a new map and a 'duck bucket' so we can finally give that pesky quacker a time out
Man facing camera
The Day Before studio reportedly sues Russian website for calling infamous disaster-game a 'scam'