Almost half of all gamers (46%) have been the victim of a cyberattack, and the figure rises to 66% among hardcore gamers, a new survey reveals.
Furthermore, in its attempt to shed light on the cyber risks affecting the gaming community, the global survey conducted by NortonLifeLock found that more than half (76%) of attacked players lost more than € 700 on average as a result of the attack.
Surprisingly, many gamers admit a number of risky online gaming habits, such as reusing the same password for multiple accounts or gaming devices and sharing personal information, including their names and birthdays, while playing an online game.
Some have even admitted to downloading add-ons from a website that is not associated with the game's distributor.
"Cheats, trainers and exploits can be incredibly attractive to motivated gamers. Scammers know this and will often try to trick gamers into clicking phishing links or downloading malware by promoting limited edition items. Or secret cheat codes that promise to boost the competition,” noted Darren Shou, NortonLifeLock's CTO.
Whatever it takes
The survey of more than 5.300 adults in eight countries also revealed surprising results on player-to-player cyber risks and the tremendous effort players are willing to put in to win.
For example, almost one in four players (27%) admit that they would hack into the account of a friend, family member or romantic partner if they knew it would give them a competitive advantage in an online game. This sentiment is most pronounced among hardcore gamers in the United States, with two in five (42%) admitting the behavior.
Additionally, among US gamers who have owned a gaming device or account targeted for a cyber attack, one in five (21%) has been tampered with or their personal information has been stolen and shared publicly online.
"I've learned that when playing online it's very important to know who your friends are online and what information they share. While this is especially true for professional gamers who have this public profile, it's clearly fine for any online gamer. ,” suggests Twitch gamer and streamer BigCheeseKIT.
Make sure you stay safe online with these best identity theft protection services, and use these best security keys to add another layer to protect your accounts.