With the onset of the pandemic, several people around the globe have considered gaming either as a new hobby, as a full-time profession, or simply as a means to kill time during the lockdown. This was also the time when certain online games were booming as people were engrossed in playing them, and that has still remained intact in the lives of a few.
It is true that playing games, maybe for any purpose, can be a means to pass time or simply enjoy, but it surely comes with some disadvantages that are typically related to security issues. Hackers and scammers are all over the online media and are always on the hunt to find their next prey and defraud them to earn money. People who are regular players of a specific game are relatively at a high risk of falling prey to this debauchery.
Phishing is generally known as the fraudulent practice of inducing someone to reveal their sensitive or personal information, such as passwords. This has been a longstanding issue as it is one of the most popular scams in the gaming industry that gamers are at risk of falling into. While buying a subscription or making any related payments, the users may log in to fake websites where they might put their login information as the input. Thus, gamers must cross-check their platform validity before making any payment.
The developers of the games put in extra effort and alongwith added technology support to design characters that would be present in the games. Oftentimes, it is seen that character theft is carried out through phishing and other malware. It is pertinent that game developers must protect their systems and develop a multi-step authentication step with stronger security codes that would keep the in-game designs safe and authentic.
Distributed Denial of Service or DDoS attacks have been widespread during the pandemic due to all systems going online, and the gaming sector has been no exception. A DDoS attack on the gaming server can cause it to lag or simply crash, which can not only hamper the user’s gaming experience but also cause detrimental damage to the developers. Likewise, users tricked into installing malware and ransomware into their systems through games have also caused a lot of loss and damage to the user and the developer.
Gaming is simply conceived as a platform that users use to generally enjoy or build it as a career for themselves. In such a situation, it is obvious that the gaming industry should adopt better security facilities to protect its users. It is also a simultaneous duty for the users to be cautious about what they are letting themselves into.
