Hello guys,
You're all aware that within the RuneScape community a lot of bad things happen, even illegal things, from hacking to DDoSing. Everyone knows what they are, but fewer still know how to protect against them so I'm going to show you some tips to keep your information secure.
Real Life Information
Many people like to get other peoples' real life information, whether it's their first and last name, or even their address. There are people who will try to find out as much information about you as possible. One reason is so that they can "bully" you on the internet through the use of said information, another reason is to try and recover your account/email.
If you'd like to know more on how to secure this information please refer to a topic I wrote quite a while ago:
http://www.pure-warfare.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24247
It explains the different methods that some "hackers" use to Dox (gain personal information) you.
IP Addresses/DDoSing
DDoSing and IP harvesting is pretty big in the PK'ing/Staking worlds, just because there's potentially a lot of money at stake but that's also flowed over to the clanning community also. There are many ways you can prevent people gaining your IP Address.
Firstly, here on Pure Warfare we take IP Harvesting very seriously, we've taken certain steps to ensure that your IP Addresses which are logged for various reasons remain secure and private. As you know from a recent topic, we now only allow certain image hosts to be used on our forums, this is to stop people gaining your IP Addresses through the use of images. Also, due to a few "rogue" moderators we disabled the viewing of IP Addresses for everyone except Admins, this was changed a few months ago but many people are still unaware of the change.
What else can you do to stop your IP Address being leaked?
Well for one, only join TeamSpeak servers that you're comfortable going on, your IP Addresses are logged on all TS servers.
Secondly, don't register on other clans forums, as they're also logged from the moment you register.
Thirdly, watch the links that you click on, if you don't trust it 100% then don't click on it.
There are many other ways people can get your IP Address, but just be smart and don't give them an easy way of obtaining it.
Someone is DDoSing me, what can I do?
Firstly, if you have a dynamic IP address, simply turn your router off and turn it back on again after 60 seconds. This will force your ISP (Internet Service Provider) to issue you with a new IP Address.
If your IP didn't change then it means you have a static IP Address, but don't worry! Simply call your ISP and explain the situation and ask them to give you a new IP Address, most companies will do this without a problem.
Once you have a new IP Address, try to remember what you were last doing during the day and think of how someone could have obtained your IP, then simply avoid doing it again.
Another thing you can do to stop people obtaining your IP Address is to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network), although for a decent and reliable one you'll need to pay around $10 for one. It basically masks your real IP Address with another one whilst you're browsing the internet.
Account Hacking
If you've recently been hacked (since the release of JAG) then it's entirely your own fault. No one should be getting hacked anymore, all you need to do is enable JAG (Jagex Account Security), it works similarly to Facebook in the sense that you have to manually approve each device to access your account. You only need to do this once if you want the device to permanently have access to your account (you can remove it after), or you can set a device to have temporary access to your account.
Basically if you have your recovery questions set, an email account set on your account and JAG activated, there's no way that you can get hacked unless you allow someone to go on your account. So I'd strongly recommend enabling it.
Email Addresses
On the internet your email address is one of the most vital pieces of information you own, it allows you to recover lost accounts (not only RuneScape), and you can also get alerts from Jagex if someone is trying to recover your account/change your password, etc.
However, an email address can also be a liability due to the fact it can link people to your real life information. I cannot make it anymore clear, use a separate email for RuneScape related things. If you register on Pure Warfare, or a clan website, use a different email address to your Facebook account, then people won't be able to harvest information on you.
Pure Warfare only needs an email address so that you can recover your account, there's no other reason why we store it. Just make sure it's a valid email so that you don't lose your PW account. I urge everyone who currently uses their real life email to create a new one and change it immediately.
If you have anymore questions, please ask away and I'll try my best to answer them.
Regards,
Karl