Heartbleed, and why you should change your password
Two days ago a serious vulnerability (that’s been named “Heartbleed”) in the popular cryptographic software OpenSSL was made public. This weakness could potentially be exploited to steal information, such as login information, that normally would be protected by encryption. This software is used by roughly two thirds of the internet so a lot of services were or are at risk of being affected.
What did Mojang do?
As soon as we realized the severity of the exploit we decided to shut down all of our systems until a fix was available. This is why you were unable to log in yesterday. We then made sure that all of our services that use SSL no longer had this vulnerability before bringing them back online. We also updated all of our SSL certificates.
What should I do?
Change your Mojang/Minecraft account password
Since uses of the exploit leaves no traces, there’s no way for us to guarantee that your password hasn’t been compromised. Therefore, if you typed in your password into any of our games or websites during the last couple of days we strongly advice you to change it. Even if you haven’t logged in, it can still be a good idea the to change your password. One can never be too careful on the internet!
Also see our help article on choosing a good password.
Change your other passwords
Remember that since many other parts of the internet was affected as well you should also change your password for any other services that you have logged in to recently.
Anything else that I need to know?
Legacy launcher discontinuned
Due to this incident we’ve been forced to discontinue support for the legacy Minecraft launcher (the one used before version 1.6). If you’re using a Minecraft version older than 1.6 you need to download the current launcher (version 1.3.11) from minecraft.net. The current launcher lets you play older versions of Minecraft as well so you can still play on your pre-1.6 servers.
For developers
Since the legacy launcher no longer works we are also retiring the old login.minecraft.net service. If you have created your own Minecraft authentication that uses this scheme you will need to migrate it to the new authentication scheme. The new authentication scheme is described in this community wiki for private use.
Update: We have released version 1.7.7 with an important bugfix to fix some server crashes.
Version 1.7.7 is now officially released. This version contains some bugfixes, a few updates to make Realms even better than it already is and prepares Minecraft for the renaming feature that will eventually allow you to rename your player. The renaming feature will not be available right now, but this is an important step towards it. We have also changed the internal handling of player skins to make use of our new, improved skin servers.
Unfortunately the 1.7.6 and newer versions are not compatible with 1.7.5 (or earlier) servers. Please update your servers to 1.7.7, this is also an important step to prepare them for the upcoming 1.8 release. Servers should automatically update all player profiles to the new format, but please make sure that you are in the correct server mode (online mode/offline mode) when you start the 1.7.7 server for the first time, because profiles are not compatible between these two server modes.
Because this is important, let me repeat that last sentence: Please make sure that you are in the correct server mode (online mode/offline mode) when you start the 1.7.7 server for the first time, because profiles are not compatible between these two server modes.
You’ve bought Minecraft for Xbox 12m times. Thanks!
Hello!
As mentioned by the bigwigs at Microsoft, we’ve sold 12 million copies of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition. Hoo! That’s loads! It might even be a record.
We’d like to offer our heartfelt thanks to all players on Microsoft’s console. Without your passion and creativity, Minecraft wouldn’t be anywhere near as significant as it is today. The same goes for anyone enjoying Minecraft on PC/Mac, Playstation 3, iOS and Android. You’re all equally nice.
Our porters at 4J also deserve a mention for their skills. Keep it up, dudes!
Update: 1.7.6 pre-release 2 has been released to fix some crashes and bugs. Bug fixes:
[Bug MC-11607] – Right click with undyed Leather armor part on cauldron with water still lower water layer
[Bug MC-31468] – Holes in bedrock and Replaced any block using Arbitrary tnt and flame bows
[Bug MC-33086] – Save-all causes lagspikes on larger maps
[Bug MC-40615] – Child animals obsessed about their parents, even after growing up
[Bug MC-47723] – Broadcast settings – report to Mojang, links to previous bug reporting facility
[Bug MC-48826] – “replace” directive in sounds.json does not work
[Bug MC-51206] – Hopper: java.lang.NullPointerException: Can’t place skulls in multiplayer
[Bug MC-51953] – Almost instant motion sickness due to distorted rendering
That’s a lot of numbers, but now Minecraft 1.7.6 pre-release 1 is available for testing! This is a huge step towards one of the most requested features since the birth of Minecraft; Name changes! This version provides complete support for identifying players through unique IDs and not by names, so that no matter what a player is called they will remain banned/whitelisted/oped/etc on servers. People have come to us with a lot of questions about this service so here’s a few FAQ about name-changes:
That’s a lot of numbers, but now Minecraft 1.7.6 pre-release 1 is available for testing! This is a huge step towards one of the most requested features since the birth of Minecraft; Name changes! This version provides complete support for identifying players through unique IDs and not by names, so that no matter what a player is called they will remain banned/whitelisted/oped/etc on servers. People have come to us with a lot of questions about this service so here’s a few FAQ about name-changes:
If I ban a player “Foo” and he changes name to “Bar”, will he stay banned?
Yes. Same for whitelisted players and oped players. They also keep their inventory, pets, statistics and everything they own on a server.
Can I steal somebody’s name? Can I call myself “Dinnerbone” too?
No. I am Dinnerbone and names are still unique. You cannot have the same name as another player, they will have to change their name for you to be able to take it.
How will this work with mods? What about my custom stuff on this one modded server?
Ask your mod maker/server owner. They should be able to support this system easily, but we aren’t responsible for mods or servers!
Can I already change my name? Where do I go? Will it cost? How often can I do it?
We will enable name changing when we feel that enough users are using 1.8 or higher, so that servers have time to switch to the new player formats. We do not have any details on how name changes will be performed or any restrictions that will be required to actually perform a name change. We want it to be easy and freely available, but we also don’t want people changing their name every 5 minutes!
So where do I change my name?
Read the previous answer!
I’m a server owner, what do I have to do when I update to 1.7.6?
Nothing, really. The server will update itself, but it’s entirely possible that it may require your input if it finds an issue (nonexistant players, for example). If your server fails to start then check the log, otherwise it’s ready to play!
Is this compatible with 1.7.5?
No, sorry. We had to change the protocol to support the new player formats.
I’m scared. I need a hug.
Aww, here you go little guy. *hug* Don’t worry, it’s not as scary as it sounds.
Swedish developer Mojang, creators of the world-conquering Minecraft, made a whopping revenue of 2.07 billion Swedish krona (approximately $326m/£196m) last year, up from 816 million in 2012.
Of that, 816 million krona ($128m) was profit, and 821 milion went on licensing fees into a separate company company owned by Mojang co-owner and Minecraft creator Marcus “notch” Persson, the Wall Street Journal reports.
We are going to GDC this weekend, so there will be a pause in snapshots for a short while. But before we get on the plane, we wanted you to have the latest changes to play with.
Please report any and all bugs you find in Minecraft to bugs.mojang.com. If nobody reports a bug, we can’t fix it!
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