The video game industry has flourished immensely over the years, but with everything that gains popularity, a small part of the world will always try to use it to their advantages by harming others and so the gaming industry is not even safe from hacking anymore (Nor was it before though).
As more and more online gaming is increasing, hackers from around the world have now gained an opportunity to easily manipulate and hack users online. A case study from the University in Mary Land, showed that hackers attack at every 39 seconds.
The biggest reason for hacking these days is people sharing their personal information online, a lot of sites ask you to enter your personal information while signing up and therefore it has become easier for hackers to have an access to your data. Secondly, it is the era of online gaming now so people communicate with each other on call in the game while playing and sometimes become their “online friends”. Those same online friends can be the reason of breach in your privacy. Also, a lot of us use the same passwords to all our accounts so it is easier for us to remember it, even your Google account and Hackers use this advantage to their full potential.
The most common ways of getting harassed or being potentially hacked online are a few like Infections where the hacker enters a virus to gain access to your accounts and damage your gaming software. Some take over your account by hacking into your emails and passwords and just like we said earlier people tend to use the same password for a lot of sites so naturally when one account is taken over by the hacker they can now have access to other account of yours functioning on the same password, this is technique in hacking is called “account take over”. Next up is a very easy way of hacking, cyber snoops can have access to your personal data by eve dropping in your conversation online through mics and cameras you don’t have an idea about. Sometimes they also sent law enforcement to your house as a prank to irritate you which is called Swatting and sometimes they release personal information about the victim online which is an act namely called Doxing.
While the adults of this generation, are still careful and know how to protect themselves from such acts there are still a lot of minors on the web who do not know how this world works up until now and they are actually the ones who are attacked by such threats the most. This in no way means that children should be stopped from playing online games, they should, be let free in playing, but their parents should keep a close eye on what their children are doing on the internet. Ways parents can protect their children from online harassment is by knowing what are the ways these harassers attack children. Cyber bullying is one of the most common and easiest form of online harassment among children.
Attackers while playing an on call game with kids use it to their advantage to gain information about the kid and harass them by manipulations and threats, and the children being naïve get scared and give in easily and sometimes even lure the kid into meeting them personally. Parents should talk to their children about not sharing information about their lives with the strangers and keep an eye on what goes about in the game. Many unauthorized websites ask for bank accounts or credit card numbers to make in app purchases so children should always sign up with information like these under parents’ guidance to prevent any kind of mishaps.
As more and more online gaming is increasing, hackers from around the world have now gained an opportunity to easily manipulate and hack users online. A case study from the University in Mary Land, showed that hackers attack at every 39 seconds.
The biggest reason for hacking these days is people sharing their personal information online, a lot of sites ask you to enter your personal information while signing up and therefore it has become easier for hackers to have an access to your data. Secondly, it is the era of online gaming now so people communicate with each other on call in the game while playing and sometimes become their “online friends”. Those same online friends can be the reason of breach in your privacy. Also, a lot of us use the same passwords to all our accounts so it is easier for us to remember it, even your Google account and Hackers use this advantage to their full potential.
The most common ways of getting harassed or being potentially hacked online are a few like Infections where the hacker enters a virus to gain access to your accounts and damage your gaming software. Some take over your account by hacking into your emails and passwords and just like we said earlier people tend to use the same password for a lot of sites so naturally when one account is taken over by the hacker they can now have access to other account of yours functioning on the same password, this is technique in hacking is called “account take over”. Next up is a very easy way of hacking, cyber snoops can have access to your personal data by eve dropping in your conversation online through mics and cameras you don’t have an idea about. Sometimes they also sent law enforcement to your house as a prank to irritate you which is called Swatting and sometimes they release personal information about the victim online which is an act namely called Doxing.
While the adults of this generation, are still careful and know how to protect themselves from such acts there are still a lot of minors on the web who do not know how this world works up until now and they are actually the ones who are attacked by such threats the most. This in no way means that children should be stopped from playing online games, they should, be let free in playing, but their parents should keep a close eye on what their children are doing on the internet. Ways parents can protect their children from online harassment is by knowing what are the ways these harassers attack children. Cyber bullying is one of the most common and easiest form of online harassment among children.
Attackers while playing an on call game with kids use it to their advantage to gain information about the kid and harass them by manipulations and threats, and the children being naïve get scared and give in easily and sometimes even lure the kid into meeting them personally. Parents should talk to their children about not sharing information about their lives with the strangers and keep an eye on what goes about in the game. Many unauthorized websites ask for bank accounts or credit card numbers to make in app purchases so children should always sign up with information like these under parents’ guidance to prevent any kind of mishaps.
Take a look at this infographic for more insights:
Read next: A History of the Gaming Industry and Its Revenue (infographic)
Source.
Read next: A History of the Gaming Industry and Its Revenue (infographic)