In the current quarterly report, the cyber security specialist Nexusguard announced that the number of cyber attacks on the gambling and gaming sector has increased. Most of the attacks are so-called DDoS attacks. While most gambling companies are now well prepared for cyberattacks of all kinds, many gaming companies still find it difficult to deal with.
But why did the number of cyberattacks soar in the third quarter of 2021 and why do online gamers fear that their money or personal data will be stolen? The renowned company Nexusguard has specialized in cyber security and now publishes a quarterly report. This showed that in the third quarter of 2021, a total of 76.92% of all registered DDoS attacks relate to the gaming and gambling industry. The increase in cyber attacks in these online industries is explained by the fact that the number of gamers is continuously increasing. For cyber criminals, this type of address is becoming more attractive.
Number of DDoS attacks increases by 287%
Nexusguard analysts said that the number of DDoS attacks increased by 287% in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same period last year. The security experts emphasize that the online gaming environment holds numerous targets in store for potential perpetrators - especially now during the pandemic. In the past quarter, 45.18% of the attacks were directed at the online gaming industry. The rest of the attacks were related to online gambling providers.
DDoS attack: In a DDoS attack (= Distributed Denial-of-Service), the aim is to cause a specific Internet service to be unavailable through a targeted overload. In the majority of cases, so-called botnets, which consist of a large number of individual systems, are used for implementation.
The gambling industry was and is well prepared
The fact that the gambling industry is a multi-billion dollar market has certainly contributed to the fact that one has prepared itself in an exemplary manner for cyberattacks. Specifically, the international gaming industry has created special protective devices and a professional infrastructure in order to be able to take effective action against cyber attacks - with success. Should a certain best online casinos become the target of an attack, the responsible parties have access to a number of domains, including VIP domains, which cannot be traced. The players do not have to worry that they will lose money while attending a virtual game or that personal data will be transferred to third parties.
Gaming Sector: Gamers attack gamers
A number of cyberattacks have not only been identified in online gambling. A number of cyber attacks, including many DDoS attacks, were also counted in the gaming sector in the third quarter. The experience of Nexusguard shows that a large proportion of attacks originate from active players themselves. These pursue the goal of slowing down the competition in order to be better off themselves. Since more and more players around the world have recently accessed the gaming servers, they were so overloaded that they were more susceptible to cyberattacks. According to the analysts from Nexusguard:
"A large part of the DDoS attacks in online gaming can be traced back to gamers who are willing to do anything to win".
The gaming servers of Gameservers.com and Nitrado have recently been particularly frequently affected by cyber attacks. To be more precise, both gaming servers counted just over 50,000 attacks each in the third quarter.
Cyber attacks on gaming servers in the third quarter of 2020:
Nitrado: 54,571
Gameservers.com: 51,815
Blizzard Entertainment: 13.301
Electronic Arts: 3,306
Valve Corporation: 2,701
Ubisoft Entertainment: 1,889
Conclusion
The ongoing pandemic situation has favored the development of cyber attacks on online gaming providers and online gaming companies. The cyber security specialist Nexusguard was able to count significantly more cyber attacks in the past quarter than in the same period of the previous year. The majority of attacks were DDoS attacks. These are considered to be the "simplest" form of cyberattack and the aim is to cause a specific internet service to become unavailable through a targeted overload. The evaluation shows that the gaming industry in particular is well prepared for this type of attack. In the recent past, a lot of money has been spent on special infrastructure and other protective devices.