16-year-old Luke Martin had a lot of free time during the pandemic after his classes were held online. And he decided to fill his free time playing video games. But he fell victim to a hacking attack.
One day in April, when he tried to log in to the online gaming platform Steam, a message appeared saying his credentials were incorrect. After Steam customer service helped him get back into his account , he discovered that $200 worth of video games he had purchased had disappeared. He checked his login history and found that someone had logged into his account from an IP in Moldova.
The pandemic has caused a huge increase in the use of video games, which means that hackers have also turned attention . In fact, video game users increased by 30% in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. Although many people think that a hack in a video game is not that big of a deal, the truth is that it can be devastating. Hacks in video games can lead to a breach of your bank account, which means you can lose your money. Also valuable to hackers are all of the following: skins, weapons and clothes worn by avatars , as they can sell them on various online markets or on the dark web.
The most typical attack technique is to try to log into accounts by trying stolen credentials purchased on the dark web. If an account is compromised, and those credentials are used on other accounts, that password will likely end up in the hands of hackers who purchase passwords on the dark web, so we remind you not to use the same passwords on different services.
Nintendo said that at least 300,000 of its customer accounts globally have been compromised since April, and the company added additional security measures to address the situation.
Luke was lucky that Steam restored his access to video games. The 16-year-old from Mohnton, Pa., said he thought he had enabled two-factor authentication on his account , but he may not have completed the process correctly.
Aarush Dey just made his first gaming purchase in April: He used $100 to buy gems to spend on “Brawl Stars,” a game he’s been playing on iPad for more than a year. The purchase was a gift from his parents for his 11th birthday. Shortly after, his account was hacked.
His mother, Suchi Ray, had been receiving purchase notifications from Apple – the amounts were small, 99 cents and $2.99, so she didn’t pay much attention. One night, around 1 a.m., she received another notification for yet another in-game purchase. But Aarush was asleep, his iPad charging on his mother’s bed.
Aarush Dey, 11, made his first in-game purchase in April, using real {dollars} to buy gems to spend on the game “Brawl Stars.”
"Aarush is not particularly involved in the game and this was the first time we made a purchase. Apparently this one time was enough for data ," he said.
Ms. Ray was so scared that she deleted the app and changed her Apple ID and password. Because her Apple ID was linked to her PayPal account, which is linked to American Express card, she also changed the passwords on those accounts. She also changed the passwords on her Google accounts.
“We don’t know what problems this particular breach could create,” Ms. Ray said. “The monetary loss was very small, but that doesn’t mean we’re not at risk.”
What can you do?
Here are some methods to protect yourself and your children from online scams:
- Set up two-factor authentication
- Create a strong password
- Never share your account details
- Check the URL before connecting to the game
- Use parental control settings
All of the above, as we have mentioned many times, are some basic security settings that you should implement, especially on gaming accounts that your children have access to.
