ArenaNet: Mobile Two-Factor Authentication [Beta]

[Izzy]

From the official forums...

As part of our ongoing commitment to security in Guild Wars 2, I am pleased to announce that we are making a mobile two-factor authentication solution available for beta testing, effective immediately.

Mobile two-factor authentication is an alternative means of securing your Guild Wars 2 account, and like e-mail authentication, is optional but strongly encouraged. Rather than sending you an e-mail when unauthorized login attempts occur, the game (or any of our online web sites) will prompt you for a six-digit number any time you log in to a Mobile Authenticator-protected account. Using a freely available app on three major smartphone platforms – iOS, Android, and Windows Phone – you can obtain the correct six-digit number unique to your account. These numbers change every 30 seconds and can only be used once; this ensures that without your mobile device, an attacker would not be able to compromise your Guild Wars 2 account.

Please be advised that this feature is currently in beta and we are actively working to get it up to our standards of quality. Use of this feature should be considered “at your own risk” until we have completed the beta phase. We have already identified two major improvements to the feature that we will complete before releasing this system for general use:

• To increase security of your account, unlinking the Mobile Authenticator will require additional six-digit codes.
• We will be introducing an option to “remember my current network” so that you will not have to authenticate every login from trusted environments.

Of course we will also be interested in your feedback on this feature, and will make sure to take into account your suggestions and opinions during final development.

Setting it Up:
Steps will be associated with either [Computer] or [Mobile] for where the step is taking place.

1. [Computer] Navigate to https://account.guildwars2.com/account/security/totp and log in with your Guild Wars 2 credentials.
   - If you are redirected to the Security home page (https://account.guildwars2.com/account/security), be sure to add /totp back into the URL.
2. [Computer] Identify the correct app for your mobile platform. Here are some suggestions:
   - Google Authenticator for iPhones and Android.
   - Windows Authenticator for Windows Phones.
3. [Mobile] Download the application to your mobile device.
4. [Computer] Click ‘Next’ on the Account Management page
5. [Mobile] If your version of the Mobile Authenticator app has the ability to scan QR codes, use it to automatically scan the QR code displayed in Account Management [Computer] and skip to step #7.
6. [Mobile] If your version of the Mobile Authenticator app does not have the ability scan QR codes, or that ability is not working with the QR code displayed, enter your credentials manually.
   - “Account Name” is the same as your Guild Wars Account Name.
   - “Key” is the secret code displayed in Account Management [Computer].
   - Select “Time Based” and not “Counter Based”
   - Select ‘Add’.
7. [Computer] In the field below the QR code, enter the six-digit code now displayed from your Mobile Authenticator app [Mobile].
8. Click ‘Next’.

For more information, please refer to this Knowledge Base article – http://en.support.guildwars2.com/app...tail/a_id/9238

Thank you in advance for your support, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts on this initiative.


- Mike Lewis
Guild Wars 2 Security Coordinator

Also note, for people running a webOS smartphone (such as myself), there is an app called GAuth you can download for free from the catalog. After you enter your information you will need to swipe back to get your code. Enter that 6-digit code on your security page. Works as intended.

[King Arthur]

What? no Blackberry OS compatibility?

[Alexanian]

What? no Blackberry OS compatibility?

Whats a blackberry? :P

[Rellin]

What? no Blackberry OS compatibility?

Blackberry, lol.

[Lich.7609]

I'm obviously missing something. I downloaded the app for my phone, can enter my account name in, but can't locate my secret key. I went back to GW2.com and entered my account info, but the usual four options are there and there's no mention of the secret key. Can anyone help?

Edit: Figured out how to activate the authenticator, so now every 30 seconds I receive a new authentication code over my phone. I just signed into the game but was never asked for the authentication number.

[Zorac]

Great idea for everyone except people like me with a cheap phone and no cell service in most places anyways lol. Living in sticks is nice, no neighbors and the sherrif doesn't mind if you shoot intruders, saves him the paper work

[Izzy]

What? no Blackberry OS compatibility?

Google Authenticator works on BlackBerry OS 4.5 - 6.0. Go to m.google.com/authenticator and download the app.

[shokenaw]

Honestly I thought Blackberry died off because they couldn't keep up with the times and adapt when iphone and android were taking over with superior products. Either way, I am glad this is here, however I will not be using it until its taken out of beta.

Imagine for a moment something happens with the authenticator service and you're locked out of gw2 and you can't contact support so you're left sitting on your hands or...shooting pizza in internet spaceships.

[Izzy]

I'm using it and will continue to do so. I'm sure if their authenticator service goes down they will fix the problem quick enough, otherwise a lot of people would be pretty ticked. Plus, that's the whole thing with "beta". I'll take my chances with it being a buggy disaster. It's worth the extra security to me.

[shokenaw]

I'm using it and will continue to do so. I'm sure if their authenticator service goes down they will fix the problem quick enough, otherwise a lot of people would be pretty ticked. Plus, that's the whole thing with "beta". I'll take my chances with it being a buggy disaster. It's worth the extra security to me.

Keep us posted Izzy - its rare that I turn down the opportunity to try to break something (beta) but I am not really playing much GW2 at this point anyway.