Money laundering through online games

The fact that many online games rely on in-game purchases is the reason for the myriad of cyber-attacks against the video game industry. Due to the use of game currency and subsequent microtransactions, hackers are gravitating towards the gaming industry in order to rob players.

Billions of players, billions of potential targets

There are approximately 2.7 billion players worldwide. The gaming industry has huge potential. This year’s market spits out $ 159.3 billion in revenue. As cyberattacks continue to expand, video game companies are not successful in mitigating them. User accounts continue to be threatened by hackers who steal up to seven digits sums each year.

Access to user accounts has also been broken and data has been used for unauthorized in-game purchases. Not only do hackers break into user accounts to steal personal and payment information, but they also launder money through in-game currencies.

The popularity of in-game purchases is constantly growing and expanding the gaming economy, which attracts hackers. In essence, hackers buy game currency for stolen money, which they then, if the game allows, resell to other players. Once an attacker has real-world money at his disposal, he has several options for removing traces from previous transactions. One is to transfer money to a cryptocurrency, with some criminals going further and “clearing” the cryptocurrency by mixing cryptocurrencies.

Other hackers go even further. When a hacker breaks into a game account, he can rob it and sell the stolen personal information to another hacker.

Bad passwords and security

Cybercriminals are looking for attack-prone game sites. Abuse can allow them to gain unauthorized access to the user table and passwords, where each user’s registration information is stored. This information can also be obtained from data dumps published on hacker websites or on the darkweb. One in five players allegedly fell victim to some form of game payment fraud.

According to report published by IT security consulting company Night Lion Security, the use of password cracking is brute force is a well-known method of attacking accounts. The wrong choice of password chosen by the user only increases the susceptibility of the account to compromise by hackers, especially if the password can be guessed.

They infiltrate online games developers’ servers

In several cases, hackers were able to hack and compromise a server that provided them with keys to automated systems. This allowed them to manipulate the executable files of the video game by inserting a Trojan horse on the back door. So they infected many devices.

Due to location masking tools, it can be difficult to determine the true origin of an attack with absolute certainty, making it easier for hackers to track money and subsequent robberies. Attacks on applications are much more evenly distributed around the world. With the development of virtual currency and the introduction of game tokens, video game developers have really made games a favorable environment for hackers.

Conclusion

We’re at that security again. When playing online games, always choose strong, unbreakable passwords. The same goes for cryptobourses and wallets. Protect your wealth so you don’t lose it. Many attacks that take place in the game space are similar to cryptocurrencies, in part because hackers use cryptocurrencies to “cleanse” money.

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