Gaming Account Theft: More Common than You Think
More than three billion people in the world are gamers, and over a third play online. Whether you’re disarming bombs or storming the nexus, chances are gaming account security isn’t foremost in your mind. Since gaming account theft is rising and the consequences can be serious, it should be!
In this article, we take a look at the crooks and hackers online gaming attracts. We explore why account theft is so alluring and the most common methods players fall for. Naturally, you’ll also learn what to do to keep your account safe.
Why Do Gaming Accounts Get Stolen?
Answering the question requires a brief explanation of gaming’s changing nature. Back when the internet wasn’t ubiquitous, online gaming was much less popular. You would buy a physical copy of a game and could play it indefinitely without an internet connection. This method gradually gave way to freemium models and season passes that kept players engaged longer and spending more.
Depending on time played and money invested in skins, in-game currency, etc., someone’s account could be worth a lot of real money. Cybercriminals actively hack and sell such accounts on the dark web. The amount of affected – or rather infected – accounts keeps growing.
The information tied to one’s gaming account can be equally, if not more, valuable. In-game purchases require you to link it to a bank account or online payment platform. You also likely have to enter your name, address, and other personally identifiable information during account creation. Moreover, many gamers inadvertently share information like date of birth or their pet’s name as part of their gamer tags.
Such information is enough for crooks to create a profile on you and try to hack other accounts like email, social media, etc., by trying out various passwords based on it. They don’t often succeed. However, even one in 1,000 successful attempts is enough for account takeovers to be profitable.
How Can Cybercriminals Steal Your Gaming Account?
Most types of account theft involve tricking the user into giving up their login information.
The most common method is through phishing scams. The crooks will carefully craft an email that resembles official messages you’d get from a gaming company, complete with an authentic-looking design. They’ll claim there’s a problem with your account or that all players are required to resubmit their credentials or risk getting banned. The email contains a phishing link to an official-looking login page that collects the information you type, which the crooks can use to hack your account if no countermeasures are in place.
Some gamers will give up their account info in hopes of getting an edge. Numerous sites and even in-game “users” promise easy rank-ups or offer a chance to get exclusive in-game items for cheap or free if you link your account. Predictably, the results are almost always the same with successful phishing attempts.
Account theft can also happen through malware. This is usually the case when players install unsupported third-party add-ons or cheat like assisted aim and wall hacks. In a recent case, such malware targeted not only gaming account info but crypto wallets and other sensitive information.
How to Keep Your Gaming Accounts Safe?
Getting your account stolen can be scary and unpleasant. Luckily, you can drastically reduce the likelihood by using common sense and practicing some basic yet effective cybersecurity.
Password strength should top your list. Are you using long passwords with upper & lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols to protect your accounts? More importantly, are these passwords unique and impossible to guess from any information available to you online?
Making sure every single password lives up to these standards is tough unless you start using a reliable password manager to take most of the load off. If you need recommendations, visit Reddit’s password manager comparison table. Generating passwords that are impossible to brute force or crack via credential stuffing is easy for password managers. They can do so for all the accounts you want to protect and store passwords safely inside encrypted vaults.
Reinforce a strong password with two-factor authentication for complete account security. Someone might obtain a shared or misplaced password, no matter how good it is. However, 2FA makes it so they can’t access the account without a secondary code. You get notified every time someone attempts to access the account from an unknown location and can change the password to lock them out completely.
Your behavior plays a major role in account security, too. It should go without saying but never give your account details away, not even to long-term real-life or online friends. Report any suspicious in-game messages or sellers that violate the ToS. Learn how to recognize phishing emails and avoid interacting with them. Also, only download add-ons and mods from official marketplaces and websites.
Some gamers prefer playing on the go, which often involves connecting to unsafe networks like public Wi-Fi. Even newbie hackers can take over or clone such networks and then spy on your activities, including any account or payment method passwords you enter.
Avoid gaming on public Wi-Fi, or activate a reputable VPN first to encrypt and shield the connection if that’s the only way. VPNs are useful in several situations. They may sometimes take a shorter route to a gaming server than your ISP, resulting in lower ping. You may also use their IP masking and location-switching advantages to hide your location and prevent game-breaking DDoS attacks.
Conclusion
Your gaming accounts are a treasure trove of information and items immoral individuals would love to get their hands on. Take the appropriate countermeasures, and getting better at your favorite games will be the only thing you’ll need to worry about.
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