with Alexandru Petrescu, SVP BIG Cyber
Gambling businesses online and European regulators need to take lessons how to better regulate & protect themselves, from other industries with high security risks, as financial services, banking.
To provide a safe gambling environment, you need a strategy that goes beyond what services to offer and how to offer them – one that considers the technologies, processes and governance structures that will ensure players and operators are well protected from online threats.
You may already be aware that cybercrime grew exponentially all over the world during the COVID-19 pandemic and lately because the war in Ukraine, with a spike of cyber attacks across the neighboring to the conflict. Online gambling involves massive volume of sensitive user and business data and provide a very profitable setting for cybercriminals to take advantage of.
Research reveals that cybercrimes for the gaming industry experienced a spike of a staggering 340% over the past year.
Since 2018, Akamai has observed a 415% increase in web application attacks on the gaming industry. In 2020 alone, this statistic was at 240 million attacks, a 340% increase since 2019.
According to Akamai, a content delivery network (CDN), the gaming industry has been the biggest victim of cyber attacks during the past couple of years and the trend is here to stay.
And this is being done most commonly by phishing attacks, whereby hackers send gamers fraudulent messages encrypted with malware.
Apart of phishing, credential stuffing, or more simply – credential theft – was the most common account takeover technique for hackers targeting the gaming industry.
Additionally, ill-intended are also going after mobile gamers. Mobile games that incorporate in-app purchases are very susceptible to cyber attacks. Hackers are looking for any opportunity to take advantage of players who are willing to spend money on virtual in-game items such as upgrades or additional features, character enhancements, or additional levels.
Online gambling poses a range of certain risks to the industry, but battling this threats, it also represents the next step in gambling’s development.
Undoubtedly, online gambling is entertaining, but not until you experience such issues that nobody wants to. Always remember not to let anybody ruin your experience!
Published by Casino Magazine
