The gaming industry is a vast global market that is growing rapidly. However, this growth has not been without its challenges. One of the biggest threats to the gaming industry is cybercrime.
Due to the daily cost of fraud that occurred in 2021, it meant that 834,112 Playstation 5’s were missed on being purchased daily! Sony would have missed out on earning extra revenue while consumers were missing the opportunity to play many different games on that console.
With fraud still occurring, let’s assess how that has continued to affect the gaming industry.
The Impact of Cybercrime on the Gaming Industry
Sony endured perhaps one of the biggest data breaches in 2011. After 5 days, the company had to finally confirm that they needed to take their service offline due to a security breach. The personal information of more than a 77million registered Playstation Network users was stolen.
The financial impact that this cost Sony was huge; following frequent class-action lawsuits, Sony had to settle for paying out $15m worth of free downloads of PS3 and PSP games.
In addition to making it difficult for consumers to purchase gaming consoles, hackers are targeting gamers directly with credential stuffing and phishing attacks in an attempt to access sensitive information or take over accounts.
Credential stuffing is a type of attack that uses stolen login credentials to log into other websites’ accounts. If the account is successfully logged into, the hacker can access sensitive information or even take over the account.
A total of 193 billion credential stuffing assaults was detected in 2020, according to researchers at Help Net Security. A total of 3.4 billion attacks were made against financial institutions. More than 45% year-over-year growth in that industry.
Phishing is an attack where hackers send emails to people pretending to be from a legitimate company. The hacker’s goal is to get the recipient to click on a malicious link or download an infected file that will allow them, in turn, access their computer.
This type of attack has been used for years by cybercriminals because it’s a very effective way to access people’s information. Furthermore, the gaming and leisure industries saw a sharper increase in fraud following the effects and aftermath of COVID-19, soaring to 393% and 155.9% globally respectively, with also a 261.9% spike in the US.
Conclusion
Cybercrime is a significant issue that businesses need to be aware of. Companies need to take steps to protect themselves from being hacked, such as implementing a solid security policy and reporting any suspicious activity immediately.
The gaming industry has been affected by this type of crime, as hackers are targeting gamers directly with credential stuffing and phishing attacks in an attempt to access sensitive information or take over accounts.
Businesses can protect themselves from cybercrime by implementing a solid security policy and reporting any suspicious activity immediately. Cybercrime is not going away anytime soon, so it is essential to be prepared.