It is normal for children to play video games with the people they don’t know. However, the growth of the gaming industry and cybercriminals’ interest on these platforms bring security problems. So, keeping the children safe in online video games has become a problem. no phishing
According to Data Breach Industry Forecast 2019 report by Experian, Online video games will constitute a significant part of the 2019 data breaches, a firm that provides protection against credit and identity theft. According to the report, “The online gaming community will be an emerging hacker surface, with cybercriminals posing as gamers and gaining access to the computers and personal data of trusting players”. Cybercriminals can easily become members of platforms ”as gamers”, they can give confidence to specific players or the gaming community and gain their trust and thus “gaining access to” privileged content. This right may include personal information such as real name information, phone numbers, as well as passwords and credit card information. no phishing
“The Sony PlayStation breach in 2011 was an early indication that gamers had information of value to hackers. Almost a decade later, the rising popularity of eSports has turned it into a $1.5 billion industry. Approximately a quarter of the world’s population, or 2.2 billion people, are gamers. Many of these gamers use cryptocurrency or want greater opportunities to use it, to build more competition on a global scale” [1]
The online gaming platform is much more valuable and dangerous because of the massive growth of industry and the sale of in-game assets. According to Newzoo, a gaming analytics company, the video game industry, “2.3 billion gamers across the globe will spend $137.9 billion on games in 2018. This represents an increase of +13.3% from the year before, or $16.2 billion. Digital game revenues will take 91% of the global market with $125.3 billion” [2]. For example, a large portion of Fortnite’s revenue of more than $ 1 billion was generated by in-game add-ons sold in July of the year. [3] no phishing
In addition to capturing data, Experian’s report revealed that little girls were abused by cyber attackers. “It isn’t just theft that is a concern. Cybercriminals are going into the gaming world to cause chaos. A popular children’s video game, Roblox, was infiltrated by bad actors who simulated rape of a little girl’s avatar while the girl was playing the game. The hackers went around the system’s protections to customize animations. Female gamers have long been harassed and threatened, a situation that will get worse as more people enter an unregulated gaming world.”[1]
How Can We Make Online Gaming Safer? no phishing
By 2017, more than 2 billion people around the world played online video games and 27 % of them were under the age of 18. Due to the wide variety of games, children and young people interacted more with video games. This particularly required parents to pay more attention to their children playing online. Make the online gaming safer with the suggestions below. [4][5][6]
- Use a family email address in the email that you will use when playing online games. Thus, it will possible for family members to notice any unusual activity.
- Take a screenshot if necessary. If something bad happens while playing online, take a screenshot to create evidence.
- Use antivirus and anti-spyware software.
- Pay attention to the files attached to e-mail messages or instant messages. Verify that files and software you are going to download are secure.
- Securely configure your web browsers. Use a firewall.
Set your user profile to include the appropriate language and game content.
- Put the time limit for children.
- Never download software and games from unknown websites.
- Avoid clicking links, images, and pop-ups on websites, as they may contain viruses and damage the computer.
- Never submit your personal information through the Internet while downloading games.
- Some free games may contain viruses, so be careful and investigate before downloading these games.
- Create strong passwords.
- Always keep your applications up to date.
- Check whether your children are playing games that are suitable for them
- Make sure the devices that your children are using are while playing online have security settings in place.
- Secure your home Wi-Fi network. If it’s not secured, intruders might use your bandwidth, or worse, compromise your internet security
- Install Parental Control on your family computers for your kids.
- Learn how to recognise and avoid phishing scams.
References
[1] https://bit.ly/2Ckddhr
[2] https://bit.ly/2HHIZcJ
[3] https://bit.ly/2Gv6JAC
[4] https://bit.ly/2EvpdhJ
[5] https://bit.ly/2BtpZIX
[6] https://bit.ly/2Gvvflb
“This post is originally published at www.keepnetlabs.com”
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