You would think Blizzard Entertainment operated a bank looking at all the ways scammers try to gain access to World of Warcraft accounts. Fake log-in pages, flash-embedded key-loggers, IM con jobs, faked IDs … the methods people have used to steal World of Warcraft accounts and the in-game currency they hold is eclipsed only by the sheer number of attempts made.

The most popular scam method lately seems to be finding new and inventive ways to deploy trojans laden with password-stealing software. Well friends, that practice is about to come to end once and for all.

Blizzard has recently announced they will be adding an extra security feature into accounts in the form of an encrypted passcode generated by a physical dongle. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was largely in response to the recent wave of account thefts made possible with an exploit in Flash (Which has since been fixed).

The Blizzard Authenticator is an optional tool that offers World of Warcraft players an additional layer of security to help prevent unauthorized account access. The Authenticator itself is a physical “token” device that fits easily on a keyring.

For only $6.50 at the Blizzard store, you can by an Authenticator which you link to your account. Once your account is linked you will need a security token generated by the device as well as your name and password to access your account. They are even letting people link one device to multiple accounts.

This may not completely stop more traditional con jobs from taking place, but having one of these will definitely shield you completely from the threat of key-loggers because the security number will change every time you log in.