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Top Internet Threats

by Evan Shamoon on February 14, 2008 at 08:58 AM



The threat: Virtual world attacks

The problem: Think you're safe when wandering around Azeroth? Not necessarily. Second Life, Lineage and World of Warcraft have already become targets for cybercrime, There are already Trojan horses
-- pieces of software that appear to perform a certain task, but in fact perform another (like install a virus) -- that target Lineage players in particular. Thieves can essentially take over an account and steal everything a player has -- swords, armor, etc -- and then sell the virtual items online for real cash. Suddenly, the game gets more real ...

How to protect yourself: Our advice? Play these games for fun, not profit. Because laws surrounding virtual worlds are still so ambiguous, it's much easier to get ripped off here than it is in the real world -- and find yourself stuck not being able to do anything about it.


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