The video games industry is massive, and its growth shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Billions of people play free slots and real money games online and can spend large sums of money on them and other things: in-game purchases and streaming subscriptions, for example.
While it’s excellent that gaming is such a financial success with so many people involved, the industry isn’t without its threats from cybercriminals. Here’s a look at why the video game industry is prone to being attacked.
Financial Gain
As mentioned above, the video game industry is a significant financial success. It was expected to generate around $180 billion in revenue in 2023, a 0.6% growth from 2022. While players can still purchase physical copies of games, a lot of payments are made online. For example, most games can be bought over the internet, and some are digital-only; there are streaming services such as Steam, and many games have optional in-game purchases.
It’s easy to spend a lot of money on gaming, and plenty of people are happy to part with their cash to enjoy gaming experiences. When hackers carry out cyber-attacks to steal money, they typically want to end up with as much as possible. They’ll pursue gamers known to spend large amounts of money because these players are likely to have a decent sum sitting in an account somewhere.
The thing is, these days, it’s easy for hackers to find big spenders (also known as ‘whales’) because so many players are public. In other words, they play multiplayer games, are active on social media, and do things like video game streaming. All of these make the player known to others online; if someone gives the impression they spend a lot of money on games, they could attract hackers’ attention.
Obtaining Data
There’s also data, which there’s a lot of in the gaming world. Let’s say you create an account and spend ages playing a game, building up experience, collecting items, and defeating opponents. A hacker could see your account as valuable because of how much you’ve achieved. They could even hack into your account, change the details, lock you out, and sell it to someone else.
It might sound wild, but this sort of thing happens. Some players would happily part with their money for access to an account that’s made much progress. Many games have limited-time skins, exclusive items, and other accessories that make an account even more attractive to hackers. Similarly, in the world of gambling, players often seek out the best casinos in the world, drawn by exclusive offers and high-tier gaming environments.
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Then there are your financial details, i.e., the payment method you use to make purchases and personal information. There’s a market for this stuff, and it’s not unheard of for hackers to gain access to vast amounts of personal data and sell it. Cyber security in gaming industry is steadily improving, with increasingly advanced software used to prevent attacks and deter hackers. Unfortunately, hacking technology is also becoming more sophisticated, so trying to fight it is a constant battle.
Young Generation Involvement
Relating back to the two points above, many people who play video games are young. The thing is, a lot of youngsters aren’t internet-savvy and are easily impressionable. In other words, they might not realise they’re being hacked, or someone is accessing their account. An adult is much more likely to spot something dodgy or think that something isn’t right. Hackers target youth or even games that are primarily for teens because they can, in theory, get away with more.
Thankfully, the cyber security gaming industry is stepping up, with plenty of measures in place to protect the young generation. These include, but are not limited to, turning off communications, muting voice chat, limiting gameplay time, and reducing contact with other players.
Ransomware
Some hackers don’t hack games to obtain money or access data they can sell to third parties. Instead, they carry out a ransomware attack, where they introduce software that blocks part of a computer system. The only way for a video game developer to get rid of this is to pay the hacker behind the ransomware attack.
Insomniac, a PlayStation studio behind the Spider-Man 2 game, suffered such an attack in late 2023. Some of the data that was stolen included:
- Company communications
- Details of employees
- Information about the studio’s upcoming gaming project, the PlayStation 5 exclusive Wolverine.
It seems that Insomniac was able to pay the hacker behind the attack and is continuing to develop its latest game.
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Notoriety
Gamers who use social media and streaming platforms such as Twitch can end up with millions of followers and billions of hours of views. They gain a lot of internet fame thanks to their gaming activities and their dedication to uploading content. But, some want a different kind of fame. Some hackers aren’t motivated by money or data. Instead, it’s the notoriety they’re after. They attack video games and players because they want to show off, gain some clout, and make a name for themselves, even if it’s for the wrong reason.
Summary
Video games bring fun, entertainment, and enjoyment to so many of us. But, there will always be the threat of hackers who want to exploit the industry for any number of reasons. Thankfully, cyber security in gaming is constantly becoming more advanced and capable of dealing with threats. There will always be a chance of something untoward happening, but hopefully, this will be diminished in years to come.
