The video game industry is a huge commercial market that generated $120.1 billion in revenue in 2019. Cybercrimes relate to the gaming industry are often difficult to trace, which is why attackers are increasingly targeting popular online games and community platforms.
According to a recent report, some underground marketplaces that deal with the trading of stolen gaming accounts are doing an estimated business of about $1 billion annually.
- Around $700 million is coming from just four games namely Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, and Runescape.
- Hackers leverage public cloud services and digital e-commerce platforms to run their business.
- They steal in-game commodities, such as player skin, in-game items, or currencies, to make a sale on underground forums.
- They pilfer top gaming accounts or perform account takeovers to sell them at lower prices. They even provide customer service and offer buyers to replace non-working gaming accounts for free, with discounts on bulk order.
- In August, a malicious JavaScript library disguised as “Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout” game API was found to be stealing sensitive files from an infected user’s browser and Discord application.
- In July, a massive Nintendo leak revealed early Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon game’s secrets.
- In June, over 1.3 million user records belonging to Stalker Online players were put for sale on dark web forums.
Experts indicate that the gaming industry must face this challenge with a proactive and multilayered approach to protect their customers and their own products and services. Gamers are recommended to never reuse their passwords to avoid misuse of their accounts.
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