Core Hound Pup

I recently received a Core Hound Pup in the mail on all the characters on my account. The reason was, I recently purchased a Blizzard Authenticator for my account. The authenticator adds more security to your account by having to enter an authentication code every time you log in.

The Blizzard Authenticator is about the size of your average USB flash drive and has a ring to attach it to your key chain. It has a button on it that generates a code for you to use when you log in. It is really simple to go online and set it up for your account through Blizzards website. Once it is set up the extra step of authentication is automatically added to your account when you log in. The cost for the US Blizzard Authenticator is $6.50 and includes free shipping, shipped in the US. They also have a Blizzard Authenticator available for Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America. Players from Europe or Korea can purchase a Blizzard Authenticator from the European and Korean Blizzard Stores.

The reason Blizzard gives the Core Hound Pup to all the characters on your account is to "guard the guild bank". More and more guilds are requiring you be able to show them a Core Hound Pup before they will give you access to the guild bank. The reason for that is simple, if you have the Core Hound Pup you have enhanced security on your account and are less likely to be hacked. If you are less likely to be hacked, then you are less likely to get the guild bank cleaned out.

My account was hacked last year through no fault of mine. Someone sent a script to the Blizzard password reset bot and it sent them a new password for my account. You can go on YouTube and get the script to do this, it is pretty simple. So much for Blizzards security. With this extra step that script is now worthless if they are trying to hack an account with an authenticator, you will not have the code that is generated by the authenticator and will not be able to log in.

I got everything except a little over 1500 gold back when my account was hacked. It was a real pain going through everything to make sure I got it back and the loss of the gold didn't help matters either. Now I feel more secure, I hope it is not a false warm fuzzy feeling.