Game Over Hacker: How To Play Online Safely

The new athletes are not athletes with sculpted bodies but gamers who are very skilled with the joypad or with the keyboard and mouse. The online gaming market is also expanding strongly in Italy, reaching a global turnover that is close to 200 billion euros.

All this interest has also created fertile ground for hackers, ready to take advantage of the first weakness of gamers to steal accounts, personal data or payment card information.

Let’s see how to protect our online profiles from hackers, examining the main risks and the most effective security measures.

The growth of the sector and the interest of cyber criminals

The gaming sector has seen impressive growth since the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, the video game market in Italy reached a turnover of 2 billion and 243 million euros, with a total of 15.5 million users actively involved in online gaming.

The increase of 21.9% compared to 2019 makes us understand why the hackers are so interested in this sectorusing various techniques to access gamers’ accounts and targeting both personal data and associated valuable assets.

The main cyber threats

The risks that gamers run are very different from each other and are based on various types of attack:

1. SQL Injection: this technique exploits vulnerabilities in web pages to “inject” malicious code capable of “interrogating” databases and thus accessing confidential information.
2. Local file inclusion (LFI): In this case, vulnerabilities are exploited to upload malicious files (such as configuration files or scripts) to a server via the browser.
3. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS): a vulnerability in websites that allows hackers to inject malicious scripts into pages, stealing sensitive information or installing malware in users’ browsers.
4. Credential stuffing: a brute force attack in which stolen credentials are used to try to access thousands of accounts, taking advantage of the bad habit of many users to reuse the same passwords on multiple platforms.

Consequences for gamers and affected companies

The consequences of cyber attacks can be devastating for both gamers and companies in the sector. For users, we can talk about:

• Theft of personal data: Hackers can steal sensitive information such as your name, email address, date of birth and payment details, then resell them on the dark web.
• Violation of privacy: Access to private conversations and personal information violates the right to privacy.
• Theft of money: unauthorized purchases of digital content and misuse of credit cards associated with game accounts.
• Cyberbullying: intimidation and humiliation through the online publication of personal data (doxing).

For companies, the risks are instead:

• Economic damage: decreased revenue due to service disruptions and ransom demands.
• Damage to reputation: If a data breach becomes public knowledge, it can undermine customer trust.
• Legal consequences: Violation of data protection regulations may have legal consequences.

How to Protect Your Gaming Accounts

To continue playing online safely, you can try to apply these countermeasures:

1. Choose strong, non-recycled passwords: Avoid overused combinations like “123456” or “password” and use a password manager that can create and store complex passwords for each account.
2. Enable 2-Factor Authentication (2FA): by doing so, you will have to enter a code sent via SMS or via the app at the time of login to access your profile (in addition to the classic credentials). Many gaming platforms, such as Steam, Origin and Epic Games, already support MFA ​.
3. Update software, hardware and operating systems: Make sure your operating system and game software are always up to date to address any vulnerabilities in a timely manner.
4. Beware of phishing and suspicious links: Never click on shady links and do not download games from unofficial sources. Hackers often use phishing to hack accounts.