
With the recent rash of hacks that’s scared the bejebus out of many players, I thought I’d post a security reminder for MyLoTRO readers today because I really hate to see people become victims of internet theft.
I am considering that most of you are fairly net-savvy to begin with if you’re reading blogs, so I apologize if I am preaching to the choir here. Hopefully though a few people will consider some security measures they were not aware of before.
These are some easy, non-techie tips and I encourage you to add some more in the comments if you’d care to!

Keep your antivirus/anti-malware up to date and run scans regularly. I personally also run Spybot Search & Destroy (free to DL and use) at least once a week.
If you use Internet Explorer as your browser, I’d recommend you consider changing to one that has a safer track record, such as Mozilla Firefox - and possibly Google Chrome though I have not used it myself. These browsers are also free to download and use, and come with the option to add plug ins to disable those annoying advertisements and malicious scripts.

Never, ever click on any strange links from people you do not know.
If you are randomly instructed by a “representative” to visit the website and access your account, do not follow the link given to you - it might be a phishing scam. Phishing: where they con you into believing that you are entering the legitimate website, when in fact it’s simply a front just to get your info. Instead go straight to the homepage by typing manually www.lotro.com, then navigate your way to the section you need.
When in doubt, always call the company directly to verify the authenticity of the account request - in fact, if you are ever contacted in a threatening manner (ie, “If you don’t go to this website now we’ll ban your account”) you need to call right away and speak to a live person to get it sorted out. Don’t be bullied into doing something foolish!

It’s obvious but has to be said: when you share your account info with your friends or family you just compromised your security.
Even if you are 100% confident in their trustworthiness - do you really know how safe they keep their computer? Do you know how often they update their antivirus, or if they let their kids go crazy downloading all kinds of stuff off the net?

Never, ever use the same login and password for your game account as you do for your forum/fansite accounts. Many forum admins can retrieve this information and check it to see if it works on your gaming account.
On a related note, never use a password that can be guessed from reading your MySpace page or just by making small talk with you, like using ‘Boston28′ if you live in Boston and you are 28 years old.

Don’t download any third-party programs like bots or purchase gaming services like gold + powerleveling. These are notorious for compromising accounts. Third-party programs can be infected with keyloggers and goldsellers use stolen accounts to fund their business. (You didn’t think they actually paid for their goldfarming accounts did you? When you buy gold you are directly supporting the theft of your fellow players’ accounts.)
And here I am not making a personal judgment but just stating facts: porn sites are also notorious for being cesspools of malicious downloads. If you must indulge, consider other forms of media.

If you’re on a home network with other computers, two things you want to consider.
One, is your network encrypted? By default most networks are not encrypted when they are first set up, but if you followed the installation instructions you should have been able to set up a network key (password). This helps prevent random people from accessing your network connection and monitoring what you’re doing!
Two, do you actually share documents with the other computers on your network? If you don’t, consider going into your Network options and turning off File Sharing. That way, no infected computer on your network can tinker around in your files.

Read up on general internet security practices. If you’re on the internet you really need to take a few minutes to educate yourself, because it’s not the responsibility of companies to ensure your computer’s integrity. Hackers prey on people who have no clue how to protect themselves!
The good news is though, that most hack jobs are not brute force attacks and can easily be prevented with some sound security measures in place. After all, why would they go after the paranoid guy who’s made their goal tougher over the naive guy who clicks everything blissfully unaware?