On August 31 CCP released their Q3 Security update from Team Security.
2018 has seen some serious changes in the material CCP provides to the Eve community and one hotly anticipated set of numbers is the count of hackers, bots, and RMTers removed from the game.
The raw account numbers since June 1st that Team Security has taken action against, associated with activities in breach of the EULA.
- 1469 account bans for account hacking
- 3388 account bans for botting related activities
- 4953 account bans for RMT related activities
While these, nearly 10 thousand removed accounts, feel good, something feels off. After quick review of Q1 2018 Security Update and Q2 2018 Security Update we discover a bit of a problem in comparing or creating any accurate totals.
Q1 Listed Counts:
- 896 bans related to account hijacking.
- 511 bans related to macro use and botting.
- 253 bans relating to ISK selling.
Q2 Listed Counts:
- 5377 account bans for account hacking since February
- 4250 account bans for botting related activities since February
- 8771 account bans for RMT related activities since February
*Note: Order has been altered to allow better comparison.
If one were to simply add the posted amounts, the totals would look very grand, however digging a bit deeper clouds the math. The Q1 reports define that the numbers were from the month of February. Q2 report posted on July 18th states the counts are from since February. The issue comes from Q3 report “raw numbers since June 1st”. Meaning there is an overlap between June 1st and July 18th. Whether this is a case of lack of clarity in the articles, or duplication of the numbers, you can decide.
Positive Notes
CCP have closed down more than 115 RMT groups that operation on social media, and are looking to expand their actions to take down RMT stores on Ebay and other vendor sites.
TWO FACTOR AUTHENTICATION HELPS!
Team Security did stress the importance of Two Factor Authentication (2FA) and at a minimum put 2FA on your email address. “The point of entry for the 1469 compromised accounts mentioned earlier [was] the email tied to the account,” Team Security highlighted. 2FA isn’t some new security feature in beta. While it is understandably a pain for multiple accounts, having it on your email should be a given. Too many people use one email for a everything. This is one area that we as a community can help CCP out and let them focus on other things that matter to us.
Whack-A-Bot Questions Answered
Having aided in handing out justice to the new Cynosural Projection technology test subjects in Yulai, I saw a common question come up about the botters and possible skill extraction. The answer had already been posted by Team Security.
With the March release we’ll be extending restrictions so that these accounts will also be unable to extract skillpoints. This further reduces the ability of those who’ve previously breached our rules to be able to avoid further reprimand.
– Team Security
Final Thoughts
The community is happier about the level of transparency CCP has begun to provide over removing these “Illegal Rogue Drone Automation Technology utilizers”, account hijackers, and RMT scum. Your homework assignment, setup 2FA on your at least your Eve email account.
