About the attacks
As per recent research, there exist covert markets that trade stolen gaming accounts. These trades can generate an unbelievable amount of $1 billion annually with this business. The Fortnite and Minecraft together amount to 70% of what these underground markets make. According to reports, Roblox, Runescape, Fortnite, and Minecraft are responsible for generating $700 annually. Experts at Night Lion security say that hackers selling stolen Fortnite player accounts are making up to $1 million annually.
Recent developments
Hackers are now operating as a hierarchical organization, appointing designations for different work. The structured enterprise has positions like developers, senior managers, project managers, sales, and public relations to sensationalize their services.
- The actors are using open cloud services and digital platforms to conduct their business.
- The hackers steal in-game inventories like skins, crates, and coupons from player accounts and sell them on the black market for a lower price.
- These hackers often target top gaming accounts and steal player profiles to trade them for lower prices in the underground market.
Recent attacks
- Last month, experts found a game named “Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout,” which contained malicious javascript API. It stole data from target players’ discord and browser.
- In June 2020, around 1.3 million Stalker Online players’ accounts were stolen and sold on the dark web later.
- In July 2020, a Nintendo leak revealed the game’s details before they were officially launched in the market.
The gaming industry now faces a bigger challenge to protect its community from the rising attacks. A proactive and multi-layered approach can help gamming companies protect their customers, along with products and services. However, gamers should be careful, too, avoiding re-use of the same password on other platforms.
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