State of the Internet report shows gaming companies and gamer accounts at risk, following a surge in web application attacks post pandemic

Akamai Technologies, Inc., the cloud company that powers and protects life online, released a new State of the Internet report showing that web application attacks on the gaming industry more than doubled over the past year. The new report, Gaming Respawned, notes these attacks come in the wake of booming popularity and demand for cloud gaming platforms.

Attacks on web applications in the gaming sector puts player accounts at risk of being compromised by cyber criminals resulting in the selling of gaming accounts and theft of personal information including credit card data. The microtransaction market is reportedly expected to reach $106.02B by 2026 creating a massive target for attackers. The report also finds that the gaming industry is targeted for 37 percent of all DDoS attacks. This is an overwhelming amount as the second most targeted vertical is the financial sector at 22 percent.

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Other key findings of Gaming Respawned include:

• Web application attacks in the gaming sector have grown by 167 percent from Q1 2021 to Q1 2022, impacting millions of video gamer accounts worldwide.
• The United States is the main target of attackers, followed by Switzerland, India, Japan, the United Kingdom and other nations throughout Europe and Asia.
• Gaming companies are moving operations into the cloud, creating new threat surfaces for hackers.
• Microtransactions – prevalent in the gaming industry – represent a huge draw for criminals who can capitalize on the spending power of gamers without drawing attention to themselves.

“As gaming activity has increased and evolved, so has the value of disrupting it through cyber attacks,” said Jonathan Singer, Akamai’s Senior Strategist, Media & Entertainment Industries. “Cyber criminals typically disrupt live services and co-opt credentials to steal gaming assets. Also, with the industry’s expansion into cloud gaming, new threat surfaces have opened up for attackers by bringing in new players who are prime targets for bad actors. Our latest report, Gaming Respawned, looks at why and how the gaming industry has become such a worldwide target that attracts cyber criminals, cheaters and money launderers.”

Akamai experts attending Black Hat will be available to speak about the report and are presenting a Lunch and Learn session at the event titled, “A Deep Dive into Obfuscation Techniques Observed in the Wild and How to Tame Them.” The session will be held on Thursday, August 11 at 1:00 pm PT. In addition, Akamai researcher Jordan Garzon is giving a talk on “Protecting Your Crypto Assets Against Malicious Javascript Phishing” on Wednesday, August 10 at 1:00 pm PT.

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