Runescape: The Jagex Account Guardian (JAG)

Today (9/11/12) Runescape brought out the big protection.  JAG- The Jagex Account Guardian.  This strikes me as a very good thing.  Another layer of security to protect us all.  Jagex has been coming out with so many new things, and my schedule has been pretty hectic recently, that it's been hard to keep up.  But this one seems important enough to stop and share with everyone. 
Monique and I have played Runescape since 2004, right about 8 years at this point in time.  When we first started, my initial account was hacked.  Mainly it was my own gullibility.  Someone convinced me they were a Jagex employee and needed to access my account to verify a complaint against me.  At the time, I suspected it was a hacker... but my account had a combat level of maybe 10, and nothing of any value.  So I let him access my account.
Afterward, it seemed prudent to simply start over.  There was no time invested in the original account, no real effort, and it was a free account... and I had no way of knowing if the hacker would be able to get back in after that or not.  (I know better now, but everybody's a newbie at some point.)  So when it comes to being stupid, and letting someone hack your account, I can't cast any stones.  Been there, done that.  Just lucky that the account didn't have anything worth losing. 

Now we have JAG.  The plain and simple of it is hardware access.  With the Jagex Account Guardian, you control which physical hardware can access your account.  If someone tries to get into your account from a non-authorized computer, they must go through a verification process that makes it much harder to hack. 

I really like this idea.  There's only one computer I generally play from.  And only two beyond that that ever have access.  All three computers are in my own home.  Since my blog occasionally mentions my player name, this makes me feel much more secure. 

If you want to read the Runescape News article about JAG, click HERE.  It'll give you the basics.  There's also a FAQ (just click the link) that answers most questions about the JAG.  If you're ready to activate the Account Guardian, just go to your account settings and log in.  You'll see the appropriate icons and categories to follow.

It was pretty easy to enable.  Answered 5 pre-set questions.  You're supposed to choose answers you'll always be able to remember.  Since my memory isn't that reliable, I wrote the answers down in my 'secret decoder book'.  Any time you want to add more computers to your authorized list (or remove any from it) you'll have to answer three of the five questions.  You'll also have to validate it through your email address of record.  That adds a nice multi-layered level of protection to your account. 

Once your computers are authorized (either permanently or temporarily, your choice) to access your account, it's invisible.  Just log in and play as normal.  It's up to you whether to enable JAG or not.  Personally, it seems like a GREAT idea to me!

Sorry, none of the usual pictures.  Kind of defeats the purpose if I publish pictures of the process.  :^D