Blizzard’s Warden: taking another look at third-party ‘security’ software

We’ve encountered an article tangled in the weaving nether – that is the Internet – that took another look into how an MMORPG such as World of Warcraft could be detrimental to corporate entities. Notwithstanding the lost hours of productivity and the financial backlash a game could place upon any company, the top two reasons don’t stem from the game itself.

Instead, the article took a heated gaze into Blizzard‘s security tool and its implications for a corporation or any workstation for that matter – for the nth time. The Warden is Big Blue’s cheater eliminator, much similar to the Eastern MMORPG’s GameGuard, created by nProtect.

Launched alongside the World of Warcraft client, it remains active while a session remains online, monitoring any malicious activity that could arise during gameplay.

If any event matches the Warden’s threshold for questionable activity, it reports back to a central server which determines the corresponding action: immediate disconnect or banning of account.

Of course, Blizzard denies that the Warden could compromise their security, but that’s where Big Blue’s expertise in security ends. In fact, the experts believe that as long as the Warden sends any data to the server, the information could be used to draw up many references to the owner of the computer and other personal data, such as ISP, subscription information, and computer location.

Should home users be alarmed? Not particularly as alarming to the corporations, who upon law must make sure that third-party software such as the Warden won’t compromise control and security of their own corporation’s assets. But seeing as Blizzard’s World of Warcraft is only a cash cow since it draws in paying customers, there’s always a risk that someone would like to tap into that immense financial “reserve” for his own demented means.

Via Computer World

We’ve encountered an article tangled in the weaving nether – that is the Internet – that took another look into how an MMORPG such as World of Warcraft could be detrimental to corporate entities. Notwithstanding the lost hours of productivity and the financial backlash a game could place upon any company, the top two reasons don’t stem from the game itself.

Instead, the article took a heated gaze into Blizzard‘s security tool and its implications for a corporation or any workstation for that matter – for the nth time. The Warden is Big Blue’s cheater eliminator, much similar to the Eastern MMORPG’s GameGuard, created by nProtect.

Launched alongside the World of Warcraft client, it remains active while a session remains online, monitoring any malicious activity that could arise during gameplay.

If any event matches the Warden’s threshold for questionable activity, it reports back to a central server which determines the corresponding action: immediate disconnect or banning of account.

Of course, Blizzard denies that the Warden could compromise their security, but that’s where Big Blue’s expertise in security ends. In fact, the experts believe that as long as the Warden sends any data to the server, the information could be used to draw up many references to the owner of the computer and other personal data, such as ISP, subscription information, and computer location.

Should home users be alarmed? Not particularly as alarming to the corporations, who upon law must make sure that third-party software such as the Warden won’t compromise control and security of their own corporation’s assets. But seeing as Blizzard’s World of Warcraft is only a cash cow since it draws in paying customers, there’s always a risk that someone would like to tap into that immense financial “reserve” for his own demented means.

Via Computer World