Blizzard to sell WOW Authenticator

Keeps your account safe from hackers

There are no pictures of the Authenticator as yet, so instead, here's a blood elf from the WOW series. Scary.

27 June 2008 15:57 GMT / By Verity Burns

Blizzard has announced plans to sell an Authenticator device that will help to keep World of Warcraft accounts secure.

Described as "lightweight and waterproof" and attachable to a keyring, the Authenticator will generate a unique six-digit security code at the press of a button.

This code will only work with the account that it has been linked with, and will only work once. Therefore you generate a new unique security code everytime you want to log in.

And there will be no getting around it either. The code will be required everytime you want to log in to your account, whether at the game client or the official website.

Blizzard plan to put the Authenticator on sale at its World Wide Invitational event in Paris, starting on 28th June, and will sell it for £4.75. It will then later be available for purchase from Blizzard's online store for the same price, plus shipping.

The idea behind the device is to guard against the hacking and strip-mining of accounts that can and does happen, mostly because players' in-game currency and items are actually worth money in the real world.