With the steady growth of the online gaming industry, gamers are constantly being targeted by hackers and cyber criminals with various cyber threats. In this article, we want to raise awareness and educate them Gamers with various ways on how to protect their data and prevent them from falling victim to these cyber threats.
- Be careful in exchanging personal information
Most online gambling platforms will ask for your personal information. Try to avoid sharing your real name and linking your real information to social media. Ask yourself, do you really need to give an online platform your real name, date of birth and address? The answer, almost always, is no.
In fact, it is wise to have a separate email account for different platforms. That way, if one of your accounts is compromised, the rest of your accounts can stay safe.
- Use password management applications
It's not enough to just have separate email accounts, you should also avoid reusing your password. We know it's a challenge to remember all the username and password combinations. Here one could be useful application password management. You can store all your credentials in one place and only need to remember your master password to access them all.
- Enable two-factor authentication (2FA)
2FA is an electronic authentication method that requires a user to provide two items to verify their identity before being allowed access to an application. Normally, a user will be prompted to enter their username and password, and if successful, an additional password will be sent to a specified device (either a mobile phone number or an email address) which the user will then enter in application.
Always enable 2FA when it is available on the platform you are using. Steam, for example, Valve, a popular digital game distribution service, already uses this authentication method.
- Always update your software
Game developers / companies on their part ensure that players are protected from various cyber threats through regular updates and fixes of their software. As an end user, it is in your best interest to install these updates as soon as they are available to protect yourself from issues that could compromise your data.
- Install Antivirus and Anti-Malware software
Hackers target players by sending malicious programs through different channels. They can trick players into installing malware that disguises itself as a game or as a game changer. You can protect yourself from most of these malware by installing Antivirus / Anti-Malware on your system.
Also make sure you keep this software up to date.
- Encrypt your data traffic using a virtual private network (VPN)
A VPN connection provides a secure connection between you and the internet. this means that all your data traffic is secured by hiding your real IP address and routing your data through an encrypted virtual tunnel.
This can protect players from common cyber threats, such as DoS / DDoS attacks, which, in simple terms, will prevent the platforms from working properly.
- Use a dedicated / static Internet Protocol (IP) address
An exclusive or static IP address is a permanent and unchanging number assigned to a single device, making it easy to find the device on a network. Assigned by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) at an additional cost.
There are many benefits to having a static IP address. In the framework of protectionof data and privacy, provides an additional layer better safetys by encrypting your data making it inaccessible.
We cannot stress enough how protecting our privacy and data security is paramount because of the cyber threats that continue to plague the online world.
As game developers and companies continue to find ways to help secure data on their platforms, gamers need to recognize the importance of their data privacy and take proper care to protect it. The recommendations we have given in this article will be useful as a starting point.
