Game On — Why Cyber Security Protects your Game’s Image

The gaming industry has become extremely popular in the past few years. Because of the lockdowns enforced due to the Covid-19 pandemic, people had found the perfect blend of entertainment and social connections packed in online games. 

In fact, gaming accounts for the largest share of market revenue. The online global gaming market had produced a staggering revenue of 21.1 billion US dollars with a record of 21.9 percent growth that can be accounted to the pandemic. The one billion online gaming audience is projected to grow to 1.1 billion by 2025!

What this means is that cyber-attacks on games have also been rampant in the recent years. Even larger, influential companies fell victim to these security attacks. One of Sony’s flagship games was attacked last year with a massive DDoS attack. And in the June of 2021, attackers hacked the gaming giant EA Games, and managed to steal the source code for many games.    

Cybercriminals are posing great threats to gamers and game manufacturers, and cyber security has never been as crucial as it’s right now. Here's how cyber security protects your game's image.

Cyber Threats are Critical for Gamers’ Data
Attackers and cybercriminals greatly covet the vast amounts of data that gaming platforms are in have. Such precious data should be protected at all costs by the gaming industry by making the platforms secure for the gamers.

Personally identifiable information and the gamers' credit card information are all of the data that these attackers are after. The impact of breach in customer data can lead to severe consequences.

Companies are at Risk
While gamers are vulnerable to disclosure of sensitive data, gaming companies are also threatened by reputation and financial losses. There’s no room for error as the gaming industry has to comply with international standards like the global PCI DSS, which demands that customer credit card details must be secure and the GDPR, which gives authorities the power to fine the non-compliant companies.

Consumer trust is probably the most crucial, and breach in security of assets and identities can cause irreparable damage to customer loyalty.   

Cyber Threats can Harm the Gaming Industry
People indulge in games for recreational and entertainment purposes. However, if gaming companies don't tackle or resolve these risks, they can cause the massive gaming audience to dwindle away, leading to millions of dollars of losses. Even the most avid-gamers will shy away from gaming if it comes at a risk of their financial safety and reputation.

The only solution for this is that gaming companies make cyber security their priority. It’s high time that game developers embed cyber security into the networks, software, and hardware with security controls and strong authentication to prevent private data theft, fraud, unauthorised access, piracy, loss of profits, and stealing of intellectual property.

At Lean Security, we offer the  services of our experienced team in penetration testing services to ensure security, network vulnerability assessment, web application security, vulnerability assessment and more. We aim to provide utmost security to all players and secure the assets of gamers, while protecting the integrity of game developers.

Visit our website for more details. 

The Importance of Cyber Security in Digital Marketing

Anyone who has an online presence, whether an individual or business are susceptible to cyber crimes. This is especially true for people involved in digital marketing, where they're looking over an entire website. If not, cyber crimes have the potential to cause massive financial and operational consequences for a business.

Let’s have a look at the importance of cyber security in digital marketing and how people can prevent unwanted threats from affecting their businesses.

Website Protection

You need to have plans for website protection in your digital marketing strategy. A website with substandard security and safety protocols is an easy target for hackers and cyber criminals. Any unauthorized access to your organisation’s sensitive data can have financial, operational, and reputational consequences.

If you’re working on WordPress, make sure that your plugins are updated. You can implement two-factor authentication which will improve the overall security of your website. If you’re browsing through competitor websites, make sure to have a secure VPN in place as it will help your internet traffic to flow through a secure tunnel.

Furthermore, as a digital marketer, you may be working on e-commerce websites with integrated third-party payment services such as PayPal or Apple Pay. Hackers are on the lookout for e-commerce websites with weak security as they can easily access sensitive credit card details and wipe out the entire limit in the blink of an eye! Make sure that your website has a valid SSL certificate and has HTTPS protection.

Social Media Account Protection

Social media platforms are one of the most significant weapons in a digital marketer’s arsenal. These are extensively used in digital marketing, and they need to be secure from hackers. Social media is heavily targeted by cyber hackers in digital marketing. Any undesired posts or unusual activity can affect your business credibility and brand loyalty.

Always create a strong password for your social media accounts and avoid using common names. Have a mixture of numbers, alphabets, and symbols where possible. Furthermore, restrict the usage of your organisation’s social media accounts to few people. Two-factor authentication can be an added layer of security.

Email Protection

Emails are another important marketing tool for a digital marketer. However, it is one of the most common ways for hackers to get unauthorized access. Phishing and email interception are used by cyber hackers to spread malware. People who can’t differentiate between legitimate emails and phishing ones are more susceptible to fall into such traps.

Ensure your staff is trained so that they can identify between a genuine and phishing email. Ransomware is also common as they can lock up all your critical data and cyber attackers will demand ransom to release it.

Digital marketers should not ignore the impact of cybersecurity as inadequate measures and responses can have a detrimental impact on your business. You can enlist the help of Lean Security to help you protect all your digital media accounts. We handle condition access systems and DRM to meet the industry security standards.

We also provide the best managed security testing, mobile client assessment, secure cloud-managed hosting, cloud WAF managed services and much more. You can check out our website for more information or contact us today for a consultation.

The Financial Benefits of Managed IT Services

Managed IT services is a considerable investment that can bring in a lot of return. Having a managed IT service will ensure that all your business resources are being utilised in the most productive manner which in return boosts a company’s profitability. With the right managed service, you can save up to thousands of dollars while increasing your work productivity.

Here are some of the financial benefits of managed IT services. 

Increased Productivity

One of the biggest advantages of having a managed IT services is that it streamlines your workflow enabling you to be more productive. According to IDC, any unplanned downtime can cost businesses over $58,000 for every 100 users. An average employee can lose up to 12.4 hours per year of work due to server downtime and 6.2 hours due to network failure.

With a managed IT service, you can plan scheduled maintenance after business hours so that your operations are not interrupted. Furthermore, these services also ensure that your network and servers are up and running round the clock, preventing unnecessary downtime.

Reduced Infrastructure Expenses

By having cloud-based managed IT services you can reduce your infrastructure costs considerably. By shifting to their data centres, you can remove the amount of on-site equipment you need. You will not only save the costs of hardware, but the energy and space it utilizes to function.

Better Functioning IT Department

Most of the time IT staff is involved in fixing networking issues, fixing broken equipment, or simply fixing the internet! These mundane tasks demand their attention, and they can’t focus on their core responsibilities. A managed IT service will take care of all such tasks so that your internal IT department can focus on tasks that add value to the business.

Monthly Costs

With managed IT services, you have either an ongoing contract or something that expires at a certain time. Whatever the case is, you’ll be certain of the amount you’ll be paying throughout the contract. This means that you can budget for these costs accordingly, which will allow you to spend in other areas of your business.

Constant Support

Internet breakdowns, malfunctioning equipment, server problems are common in any organisation. What is important is the fact how quickly these issues can be resolved. Time is money and having quality managed IT services will help you to create preventive measures that will ensure that none of these situations occurs. And if they do occur, they’re solved immediately by expert level support provided by the IT supplier.

 Rather than paying thousands of dollars on expensive IT hardware and equipment, you can invest in a managed IT service that can provide you with a better quality of service. Furthermore, you can reallocate resources to the other pressing needs of the business which will help your organisation grow.

 You won’t need to pay the salaries of any IT staff who are employed to do the same tasks as a managed IT service. Furthermore, it’s not just the salaries but other costs as well such as non-monetary benefits, superannuation etc.

 So if you’re looking for a reliable partner who can provide managed security services then check out Lean Security. We provide the best managed security testing, mobile client assessment, secure cloud-managed hosting, cloud WAF managed services and much more. You can check out our website for more information or contact us today for a consultation.

How to Ensure Mobile Application Security

Why Is Online Gaming Security Important?

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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