BioWare Will Require A SWTOR.com Password Change To Deter Hackers

In preparation for SWTOR’s launch, the folks over at BioWare have decided it’s time to step up their security measures. Part of the plan is to require that every single SWTOR.com community member change their account password if it was created on or before October 21st, 2011. Detailed in both a mass email and a blog post, it seems like they’re taking account security quite seriously.

While a Security Authenticator dongle comes with the CE, it’s my guess that a large majority of those eagerly anticipating SWTOR pre-ordered the regular edition. With that in mind, the next best thing a person can do to protect their account (aside from not handing out their username and password to Chinese gold Galactic Credit sellers) would be to make sure that their password is uncrackable!

That’s a very hard thing to accomplish, so BioWare wants to help their community members get at least partly there. To do so, they’ll be sending out reminder emails over the next few weeks that say “HEY BUDDY, CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD!” Well, not that forcefully, but you get the jist. 

When you change your password (if you’re one of the many that registered prior to the cutoff date), instead of it reading “123456″, it’ll need to be at least 8-16 characters long, contain at least one upper-case letter, one lower-case letter, and one number.

Here’s the catch: do not do anything until you receive that email from BioWare telling you exactly what to do – they have a plan, so you best stick with it. Especially because the changes you make will be applied to your EA.com and Origin.com accounts as well. To avoid messing something important up, be patient and wait for that email! Sit on your hands if that’ll help!  

Last but not least, if you didn’t order the CE, but want a Security Authenticator dongle – because you feel like changing your password isn’t enough to keep you from getting hacked (and it probably isn’t) – there should be more information on how to get one before the December release next month.