11 Million Attacks on Gamers in 2013
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Gamers beware: Kaspersky Lab experts have discovered that PC gamers around the globe were hit by a massive number of attacks in 2013. The global popularity of computer games also exposes gamers to a huge number of cyber attacks.
Russian gamers were the most at risk, as hackers made more than 8 million attempts on them. Vietnam was in second, followed by China. Israel didn’t “win” a place on the list, but India, spain, Turkey, Taiwan, Poland, Thailand and Italy did.
Gamers face all kinds of different digital assaults on their systems. Underground forums are ridden with cyber crooks selling access to people’s gaming accounts. The market for usernames and passwords is fuelled by attacks on the gaming companies themselves. Earlier this year, Kaspersky Lab detected a major espionage campaign on a range of massive multiplayer online games makers, with source code and other valuable data stolen.
Then there are the traditional scams, like phishing. Slews of emails are sent out, attempting to lure users into handing over data or money with the promise of discounts or cheap gaming goods.
IHLS – Israel Homeland Security
“Cyber criminals are putting a lot of effort into their attacks and we can see a surge in their sophistication. Gamers need to be even more attentive to stay secure,” says Christian Funk, senior Kaspersky analyst.
Five tips for the avid gamer:
- Don’t click through on any offers that look too good to be true
- Use strong and varied passwords across your gaming accounts
- Get a good quality anti-virus
- Be careful whom you befriend. It’s easy to make friends in virtual worlds today, but not all are doing so innocently
- Only download titles from legitimate sellers. If you’re downloading an illegal copy of a game, you aren’t just breaking the law. You also risk getting malware on your machine, as crooks often disguise game files as malicious software.
