In the last few decades, the internet has changed many aspects of our life including gaming. We’ve evolved from board games to online gaming that comes with various challenges of its own.
Online gaming has been under massive scrutiny due to the lack of cybersecurity for developers and players. Gamers often find their PC and playing systems attacked by viruses and shady downloads, leading to loss of information and data.
If you’re an avid online gamer, you should be extremely careful about where you access your games from, who you share your information with, and how protected your gaming system is.
In this blog, we’ll break down the types of cybersecurity threats for online gaming and how you can protect your system and information from any potential threats, viruses, and hackers.
Identity theft
One of the more common types of threats that come with online gaming is identity theft, usually for more high-ranked or well-known players.
Much like creating a fake identity for social media accounts, hackers assume the profiles and personas of legit players and use them for their benefit.
But who gets caught and blamed for those malicious activities? The real players, especially if the hackers haven’t been caught or can’t be tracked.
They can use this new persona to solicit funds, create scams or investment offers for anyone aware of the actual player’s skills and achievements.
Once they have what they want, the hacker runs off with the money leaving legit players and gamers to deal with the mess they’ve created.
Data theft
When it comes to data theft, you might consider it a part of identity fraud as there’s a thin line separating the two crimes. However, the hacker doesn’t need to impersonate anybody to retrieve funds and investment for the data theft.
They can access your social media accounts, track your locations, phone calls, monthly subscriptions, and other essential details to make their way into your financial resources.
The end goal is always making more money from unsuspecting gamers, but they can also use this information to commit more crimes, leaving you in the dust.
When you download or sign-up for online games, be sure to use email IDs that aren’t linked to your bank accounts. If you need to purchase anything online, make sure the platform is reliable, and your data won’t get into the wrong hands.
Phishing
One of the oldest tricks of online scamming and stealing information is phishing. Back in the day, old and unsuspecting adults would click on sketchy emails and get tricked into typing their login or bank information.
Now, even gaming platforms aren’t safe from these pesky hackers who’ll pose as fellow online gamers and share malicious links that might penetrate your data, giving them access to your financial and personal information.
When it comes to online gaming and keeping your data safe, you should keep your firewall and anti-virus updated. If you still don’t think you’re secure, let us run penetration testing and ensure your safety.
At Lean Security, we offer everything from security testing, penetration testing, network vulnerability assessment to mobile client assessment, cloud infrastructure testing, and more. When trying to keep your online gaming data safe, we’re the best IT solution company in the business.
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