I went back and forth with a game master in a web ticket who repeatedly denied there is the ability for players to sniff your IP address even though this is common knowledge. The game master had the temerity to blame me, the customer, for the issue, claiming they sniffed my IP address from a 3rd party software used in conjunction with StarCraft (this was not true and I never used 3rd party software with any StarCraft players). I had to threaten to file a class action lawsuit just to get them to admit the problem which they now seem to have done.
The real issue arose from players doing this (using IP SNIFFER to get the IP addresses and/or the program called WLauncher that had the ability to capture IP addresses of those who came into a game lobby)…and then using other hacking software to execute DDOS attacks.
It appears that I finally got them to follow THEIR OWN PROCEDURES (and the law) that requires them to investigate not only complaints of harassment, but to investigate and publicly REPORT any instances of player privacy being violated. The laws involved include “Safe Harbor” in the EU and other privacy laws worldwide.
I understand Blizzard issued a maintenance warning about this problem but I missed it. I would like to read that, and more importantly, I would like to keep this specific issue alive in this thread.
I would appreciate if Blizzard staff could chime in to REPORT what they have done or will do to close up this security/privacy issue.
Perhaps more importantly, without violating any privacy laws, I would like to know that they have permanently banned the players well known for doing this. This will be easy to do since these players, including “redhotmoon” aka “moon-rf-” openly admit inside the game program that they are launching DDOS attacks. The chat logs prove this and are enough to permanently ban a player for threatening to do so.
FWIW, I also supplied my firewall logs to Blizzard and will be happy to help them investigate further with more data. I would also be fine with helping them set up a honey pot trap to catch one of these players in the act which should be easy since they brazenly threaten to initiate these DDOS attacks and then immediately do so.