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Latest News
World Map updated, New Servers, and Wallpaper
Desert Month Finale
Warning Fansite users hijacked
Desert Treasure Quest Guide Complete
Castle Wars Change
World Map updated, New Servers, and Wallpaper Posted by Seiferoth
Posted at 26th April 2005, 21:08PM (GMT +1000)
Taken From RuneScape.com:
World Map updated
Players will be glad to know that we have just updated our game world map to reflect all of the extra land that has been recently added in our updates, including the massive expansion recently in the desert.
New London servers
We've just finished another round of upgrades on our servers to keep up with the number of people playing RuneScape. Last weekend saw a record 132,000 players enjoying RuneScape at the same time!
We've put 5 new servers online in London, UK. These servers are at a different facility to our other UK ones, so will work better for different people to the other set. There are 3 new servers for free players and 2 for members. This extra capacity should ensure that everyone can find a place to play at the weekends.
New Wallpaper
We have added a brand new wallpaper for your computer desktop, showing the infamous Bob the cat in a precarious situation...
Head on over to our Extra Files section on the website to download it in the resolution of your choice.
Luckily everyone knows cats have 9 lives, so he's sure to get out of it ok
World Map updated
Players will be glad to know that we have just updated our game world map to reflect all of the extra land that has been recently added in our updates, including the massive expansion recently in the desert.
New London servers
We've just finished another round of upgrades on our servers to keep up with the number of people playing RuneScape. Last weekend saw a record 132,000 players enjoying RuneScape at the same time!
We've put 5 new servers online in London, UK. These servers are at a different facility to our other UK ones, so will work better for different people to the other set. There are 3 new servers for free players and 2 for members. This extra capacity should ensure that everyone can find a place to play at the weekends.
New Wallpaper
We have added a brand new wallpaper for your computer desktop, showing the infamous Bob the cat in a precarious situation...
Head on over to our Extra Files section on the website to download it in the resolution of your choice.
Luckily everyone knows cats have 9 lives, so he's sure to get out of it ok
Desert Month Finale Posted by Seiferoth
Posted at 26th April 2005, 19:36PM (GMT +1000)
[edit]: Quest Guide
Taken from RuneScape.com:
Menaphos and Sophanem
A bridge across the River Elid has recently been constructed, yet another signal of the warming relations between the Kharidians and the Menaphites, opening up even more areas in our huge desert expansion.
Although idyllic-looking, the banks of the river are dangerous. Adventurers should beware of man-eating crocodiles who lurk in the cool shade and water.
Care must also be taken of jackals who lie in wait for unsuspecting travellers.
On the west of the river is Menaphos, the Menaphite capital, purported to be a city of great wealth, knowledge and culture.
Adjoining Menaphos on the eastern side of the river is Sophanem, the city of the dead, where the Menaphites erect great pyramids in honour of their dead.
Breaking news that the Menaphite cities have barred their gates to all has confounded political commentators who have reassured all that a lasting peace will embrace the area.
Getting into Menaphos may have to wait as the city is very heavily guarded, but perhaps a wily adventurer may find a way to sneak into Sophanem. A wanderer to the North-east of the cities claims to know of a secret entrance, but beware! You may unwittingly end up as Icthlarin's Little Helper...
The Menaphites are said to treat their cats with near veneration. Could the "new cat-based activities" mentioned earlier in the month come into play here?
King Black Dragon
All things move with the times. The fearsome King Black Dragon, in particular, has developed some slightly different attack styles. He's had his cave enlarged, too. Why not make a journey to his lair, deep in the Wilderness, to see for yourself...?
Adventurers are warned that the King Black Dragon may give you a warm welcome, (extremely warm in fact...) so don't forget your anti-dragonbreath shield!
Taken from RuneScape.com:
Menaphos and Sophanem
A bridge across the River Elid has recently been constructed, yet another signal of the warming relations between the Kharidians and the Menaphites, opening up even more areas in our huge desert expansion.
Although idyllic-looking, the banks of the river are dangerous. Adventurers should beware of man-eating crocodiles who lurk in the cool shade and water.
Care must also be taken of jackals who lie in wait for unsuspecting travellers.
On the west of the river is Menaphos, the Menaphite capital, purported to be a city of great wealth, knowledge and culture.
Adjoining Menaphos on the eastern side of the river is Sophanem, the city of the dead, where the Menaphites erect great pyramids in honour of their dead.
Breaking news that the Menaphite cities have barred their gates to all has confounded political commentators who have reassured all that a lasting peace will embrace the area.
Getting into Menaphos may have to wait as the city is very heavily guarded, but perhaps a wily adventurer may find a way to sneak into Sophanem. A wanderer to the North-east of the cities claims to know of a secret entrance, but beware! You may unwittingly end up as Icthlarin's Little Helper...
The Menaphites are said to treat their cats with near veneration. Could the "new cat-based activities" mentioned earlier in the month come into play here?
King Black Dragon
All things move with the times. The fearsome King Black Dragon, in particular, has developed some slightly different attack styles. He's had his cave enlarged, too. Why not make a journey to his lair, deep in the Wilderness, to see for yourself...?
Adventurers are warned that the King Black Dragon may give you a warm welcome, (extremely warm in fact...) so don't forget your anti-dragonbreath shield!
Warning Fansite users hijacked Posted by Seiferoth
Posted at 23rd April 2005, 2:06AM (GMT +1000)
Taken from Runescape.com:
Warning: fansite users getting hijacked
It has come to our attention that several users of a large RuneScape fansite have recently had their RuneScape password stolen. The fansite is an independent website, and isn't run by us or affiliated with us, but many of our users do choose to use it.
We don't know for sure, and we are basically trying to work this out from the pattern of attack, but it seems quite likely this was done by posting malicious content or images on the forums of the 3rd party fansite. People viewing that page then got infected with a keylogger which could be used to steal all their passwords.
I know it's hard to believe that just viewing a page on a forum could be enough to be infected with a keylogger, but there have actually historically already been a number of security flaws in the image code in web browsers which allowed exactly that!
Our own forums deliberately don't allow users to post images or html exactly because of this security risk. Lots of people complain that we don't offer this feature, but we believe security is far more important than features. Unfortunately many third party fansites aren't as secure as ours with regards to this. Indeed we've noticed the attacker spreading recent rumours to try to pursuade more people to use fan-site forums instead of ours, presumably so he can hack more people through them.
I would like to emphasize that we believe the security of our own servers and forums is in no way compromised. It appears that the accounts are being stolen not by targeting our servers, but by instead targeting the home computers of users. Possibly via fansite forums.
We have of course very thoroughly double checked our own server security as well, but can find no sign of intrusion, and the fact that the people being hijacked are users of the same fansite seems unlikely to be a coincidence.
We take our own security very seriously here, but our users still have to take good care of their own computer as well. It is essential that you are careful to keep your computer secure to prevent a keylogger being installed on it, we recommend EVERYONE pays close attention to the following advice:
1) Ensure your computer is fully patched. Go to www.windowsupdate.com and make sure you have all the latest patches for your machine and web-browser. You may have to reboot and visit the site several times to get all patches.
2) If you use Internet Explorer it might be worth considering using an alternative web-browser which historically has been less targetted by attacks, and appears to often patch such critical problems more quickly. Here at Jagex we use Firefox, because we believe it offers better security. Although even if you do this it is still VERY important to make sure you always only use the latest version of the browser. Because firefox has previously had security problems too.
3) DON'T use your password anywhere except runescape.com. It is very important NOT to use the same password for RuneScape and other websites.
4) DON'T believe that just having anti-virus software instantly makes you 100% immune. It doesn't. There are many less common threats and attacks which you will still not be protected from. Anti-virus software helps, and is worth having, but it doesn't mean you can ignore all other security advice!
Unfortunately if you've already been infected then this particular keylogger doesn't appear to be picked up by anti-virus software yet, and the only sure way to get rid of it is a total reformat and reinstall of your computer (which should only be done by a professional). If anybody knows an easier way to detect or get rid of it then please let us know and we'll pass the info on. Of course your best bet is to be careful and not get infected in the first place!
Warning: fansite users getting hijacked
It has come to our attention that several users of a large RuneScape fansite have recently had their RuneScape password stolen. The fansite is an independent website, and isn't run by us or affiliated with us, but many of our users do choose to use it.
We don't know for sure, and we are basically trying to work this out from the pattern of attack, but it seems quite likely this was done by posting malicious content or images on the forums of the 3rd party fansite. People viewing that page then got infected with a keylogger which could be used to steal all their passwords.
I know it's hard to believe that just viewing a page on a forum could be enough to be infected with a keylogger, but there have actually historically already been a number of security flaws in the image code in web browsers which allowed exactly that!
Our own forums deliberately don't allow users to post images or html exactly because of this security risk. Lots of people complain that we don't offer this feature, but we believe security is far more important than features. Unfortunately many third party fansites aren't as secure as ours with regards to this. Indeed we've noticed the attacker spreading recent rumours to try to pursuade more people to use fan-site forums instead of ours, presumably so he can hack more people through them.
I would like to emphasize that we believe the security of our own servers and forums is in no way compromised. It appears that the accounts are being stolen not by targeting our servers, but by instead targeting the home computers of users. Possibly via fansite forums.
We have of course very thoroughly double checked our own server security as well, but can find no sign of intrusion, and the fact that the people being hijacked are users of the same fansite seems unlikely to be a coincidence.
We take our own security very seriously here, but our users still have to take good care of their own computer as well. It is essential that you are careful to keep your computer secure to prevent a keylogger being installed on it, we recommend EVERYONE pays close attention to the following advice:
1) Ensure your computer is fully patched. Go to www.windowsupdate.com and make sure you have all the latest patches for your machine and web-browser. You may have to reboot and visit the site several times to get all patches.
2) If you use Internet Explorer it might be worth considering using an alternative web-browser which historically has been less targetted by attacks, and appears to often patch such critical problems more quickly. Here at Jagex we use Firefox, because we believe it offers better security. Although even if you do this it is still VERY important to make sure you always only use the latest version of the browser. Because firefox has previously had security problems too.
3) DON'T use your password anywhere except runescape.com. It is very important NOT to use the same password for RuneScape and other websites.
4) DON'T believe that just having anti-virus software instantly makes you 100% immune. It doesn't. There are many less common threats and attacks which you will still not be protected from. Anti-virus software helps, and is worth having, but it doesn't mean you can ignore all other security advice!
Unfortunately if you've already been infected then this particular keylogger doesn't appear to be picked up by anti-virus software yet, and the only sure way to get rid of it is a total reformat and reinstall of your computer (which should only be done by a professional). If anybody knows an easier way to detect or get rid of it then please let us know and we'll pass the info on. Of course your best bet is to be careful and not get infected in the first place!
Desert Treasure Quest Guide Complete Posted by Seiferoth
Posted at 21st April 2005, 0:37AM (GMT +1000)
I apologise for taking so long but I wanted to split the quest up into a few parts, I did the Beginning and Blood Diamond the first day, The Smoke and Ice Diamond the second day, and The Shadow Diamond and The Conclusion today(the third day).
Without anymore delay, here is another high-quality Quest Guide by myself:
The Desert Treasure Quest Guide
Post here if you find any errors with the guide.
[edit]:
I just optimised the pictures from the quest guide from about 472KB down to about 232KB.
If anyone still finds this highload on dialup, I can make the NPC pictures that aren't as necessary clickable instead - Just post on the link above if it's still too highload.
Without anymore delay, here is another high-quality Quest Guide by myself:
The Desert Treasure Quest Guide
Post here if you find any errors with the guide.
[edit]:
I just optimised the pictures from the quest guide from about 472KB down to about 232KB.
If anyone still finds this highload on dialup, I can make the NPC pictures that aren't as necessary clickable instead - Just post on the link above if it's still too highload.
Castle Wars Change Posted by Seiferoth
Posted at 19th April 2005, 0:04AM (GMT +1000)
Taken From Runescape.com:
Following feedback from our castlewars players, the bandage tables have now been moved to the castlewars spawn room.
This means you can't heal by going to the enemy teams bandage table which should make castlewars fairer and more interesting for everyone.
High levels who end up with their own teams flag now stand a chance of dying before the game ends.
Following feedback from our castlewars players, the bandage tables have now been moved to the castlewars spawn room.
This means you can't heal by going to the enemy teams bandage table which should make castlewars fairer and more interesting for everyone.
High levels who end up with their own teams flag now stand a chance of dying before the game ends.
