DreamHack has announced a new partnership with Akamai Technologies at DreamHack Summer. The two companies will share data security insights along with analysis on the global gaming and esports industry. This year’s DreamHack Summer event will occur in Jönköping, Sweden, June 15 – 17. Over 50,000 visitors will visit the event, and Akamai will support DreamHack’s B2B initiatives.
Akamai Technologies
“One reason we believe the gaming industry is an attractive target for hackers is because criminals can easily exchange in-game items for profit,” said Martin McKeay, a Security Researcher at Akamai and Editorial Director of the State of the Internet / Security Report. “Furthermore, gamers are a niche demographic known for spending money, so their financial status is also a tempting target.”
In 2019, Akamai published a report named State of the Internet / Security Web Attacks and Gaming Abuse. The report described how hackers have continuously targeted the gaming industry by carrying out 12 billion credential stuffing attacks against gaming websites. The 17-month period analyzed in the report takes place between Nov. 2017 and March of 2019. Credential stuffing is a new threat in the 21st century. It is a form of attack where hackers try to take over an account through automated web injection.
Hackers will use already breached databases and plug in those details into a variety of websites. The thinking is that people who use one platform will also likely use another platform in the same space. An example would be a gaming forum that is hacked and then hackers use the information to try to get into accounts on the Epic Games website. Since these accounts can be easily offloaded into profit, they are a prime target for cyber criminals. Gamers also tend to forget about securing their account, whether through two-factor authentication or using stronger passwords. This makes them easy pickings.
DreamHack
Marcus Lindmark, the DreamHack Co-CEO, said the following:
DreamHack is a major influencer in the video game industry through our 15 global events that will welcome approximately 400,000 visitors in 2019. But we also have tens of millions of viewers and gamers tuning in online, or try to qualify in our online tournaments. Together, with Akamai, we want to lift these questions around online data security and instead help secure the continued growth and success of esports and gaming in a market where threats are increasing and attackers are getting smarter every day. Akamai is a trusted partner in the space and an ideal partner for DreamHack.
With so many viewers and gamers, DreamHack partnering with Akamai Technologies is definitely a solid partnership opportunity. With gamers usually having at least some financial status, the gaming space will always be seen as a lucrative opportunity. The industry is worth nearly $135 billion.
Cybercrime in gaming
According to a 2016 TechCrunch report on cybercrime in gaming, about 77,000 Steam accounts are stolen every month. In one section, the author responds to a common question by many about why hackers targeted this specific industry instead of others. The author wrote, “Why bother taking the pains of hacking a banking network when there’s easier cash to be made in the gaming industry?”
Compared to customers of any financial industry, those in the gaming industry have a lack of awareness and only focus on gaming itself. Also the gaming industry is seen as an easy entry point for hackers just starting out as it doesn’t require much technological knowledge to participate in.
Have you ever suffered or become a victim due to an act of cyber crime? Compared to your bank account, do you secure your accounts on gaming related platforms the same? Turning on two-factor authentication is a very easy thing to do and much recommended option to secure any account.
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