As the industry continues to grow, gaming is becoming a way for users to make money in addition to being a form of entertainment.
Gamers need to be able to track and save their progress to qualify for prize money, esports league salaries, or sponsorships, as well as add to their streaming content or videos on demand. Their unique user accounts are vital to their success.
Just like other virtual accounts, though, gaming accounts need to be secured from fraudulent activities. These accounts contain users’ personal and financial information, and a security breach can expose this information. This can damage your company’s reputation and cause legal problems.
This blog post is an excerpt from Securing Gaming User Accounts.
Why should you secure gaming accounts?
Video gaming is a popular pastime, but gaming platforms and user accounts have recently come under attack by cybercriminals. In a recent example, a report by Kaspersky notes that BloodyStealer, an advanced Trojan horse sold on the dark web, is being used to target accounts on popular gaming sites. This malware steals account information such as session data, login details, and credit card details for reselling on underground forums.
These types of attacks are not exclusive to gaming platforms, but the increase in such attacks on gamers shows the growing demand for such data among cybercriminals. Since these attacks are likely to continue, it’s important that you secure your gaming platform.
How do attacks threaten users?
There are a number of reasons why you need to protect your users from attacks.
Personal data
Gaming platform accounts hold details on each user’s age, gender, nationality, location, and other personal details. According to FinancesOnline, there were 2.69 billion game players worldwide in 2020, and based on the 5.6 percent year-on-year growth rate, this figure could rise to 3.07 billion by 2023. That’s billions of people whose personal data is gathered by gaming platforms. A breach at that scale could be catastrophic for users and businesses alike.
Users whose information is leaked or stolen may pursue legal action against your company. Users who think their personal information isn’t safe with you won’t use your platform. In either case, your company could lose a significant amount of business.
Financial data
There is a significant amount of money involved in online gaming, especially in esports. In March 2022, for example, the winners of the ePremier League tournament were awarded £30,000 GBP (roughly $37,000 USD). Cash rewards are common among gaming platforms, which gives gamers’ accounts real-world value.
In addition, gaming platforms often require users to provide credit card details or other financial information for online or in-game purchases or to withdraw funds earned from playing. Since this links users’ banking or other financial accounts to gaming accounts, any compromise to gaming accounts will expose users’ financial information as well.
To learn about more about how to secure gaming accounts, read Securing Gaming User Accounts.
