Minecraft – Legacy Launcher No Longer Supported
We wrote earlier about the OpenSSL problem that meant hackers could easily and safely get sensitive user information from some two-thirds of major servers in the world. One of the first to react to the news was Minecraft publisher Mojang, and they’ve been quick with sharing information since as well. The first change they’re making is that the legacy launcher will no longer be supported, and that third-party launchers will need to be updated.
Unfortunately due to this incident, we have been forced to drop support for the legacy Minecraft launcher.
— Kristoffer Jelbring (@KrisJelbring) April 8, 2014
@omegatani @notch No way to fix it.
— Kristoffer Jelbring (@KrisJelbring) April 8, 2014
This means that we'll be retiring http://t.co/4zYPehwK7S soon. Custom login thingies should switch to the new system http://t.co/lul8aA5yJl
— Kristoffer Jelbring (@KrisJelbring) April 8, 2014
A decent chunk of the Minecraft community are going to be affected by these changes, but they’re for a good cause. With OpenSSL compromised, the only sure fire way of ensuring your customer’s safety is to make sure you no longer use OpenSSL. It will mean that fans need to put in a little effort, or change back to the default client for the time being, but in the long run, that’s better than losing your password or, worse, your bank details.
Article By Mat Growcott
Mat Growcott has been a long-time member of the gaming press. He's written two books and a web series, and doesn't have nearly enough time to play the games he writes about.
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