Although most users play for the love of the game, there’s a shady few who hide their real malicious intentions — and you can’t let these cybercriminals score a goal on you.
Whether it’s fraudsters, bullies, or any other virtual villains, you need to stay alert and avoid situations that may put your physical or mental well-being at risk.
In this article, we’ll explain why cybercriminals may want to target football gamers like yourself online.
We’ll also share 5 cybersecurity obstacles you must overcome to create a safe environment while playing football video games online.
Why Do Cybercriminals Target Football Gamers?
FIFA has more than 9 million active players across all platforms.
Needless to say, the game attracts a huge amount of attention, allowing developers to create online networks as well as a financial ecosystem within the game.
But, just like anything that generates buzz, the game has also attracted attention from unethical individuals like hackers and fraudsters.
Today, it’s common for cybercriminals to target players to:
- extract coins;
- acquire personal information;
- disable and lock gaming platforms;
- or simply bully gamers.
Therefore, it’s always best to create a safe environment while gaming online, especially if you enjoy sharing with players around the world.
5 Cybersecurity Threats to Avoid for Safe Gaming
1. In-Game Fraud and Theft
In-game currencies such as FIFA Coin now rule online gameplay. However, these have to be purchased with real funds, so cybercriminals can target these digital Coins.
A FIFA 23 player lost a stunning 6 million coins to a hacker, only for the gaming provider to reinstate a lowly 3,000.
This can happen for a wide range of reasons, including unsafe passwords. To avoid similar scenarios, you should create safe passwords and only join communities that offer safe playing opportunities.
2. Phishing Attacks
Phishing attacks are designed to extract passwords, personal data like addresses, financial details, and similar sensitive information.
In many cases, cybercriminals orchestrating this type of account tend to know a bit of information about their victims, like the games they like or their approximate location.
It’s a good idea to download a VPN to add a layer of security when playing and hide your real IP from hackers.
At the same time, try to avoid interacting with suspicious emails, text messages, and notifications. Plus, you should also stop yourself from sharing any type of personal information with fellow gamers online.
3. Cyberbullying and Harassment in Gaming Communities
Cyberbullying and harassment are serious problems in the gaming realm, and football is no exception. Once getting bullied, players can easily get anxiety, feelings of depression, and similar symptoms that negatively impact their mental health.
Besides eliminating interactions with individuals that have displayed this behavior, it’s also important to stay away from communities that focus negatively on minorities or other groups.
4. Social Engineering
Social engineering is when hackers extract information from a user and then employ it for hacking campaigns or other criminal purposes.
The problem is that social engineering techniques are designed to extract information in a way that a player won’t get suspicious.
For instance, someone may pretend to have known you or played with you in the past and ask for some personal details, like, how your gaming has been since, who you played with, and when.
This info may be used to get more sensitive data about you and then sell it to third parties.
Thus, it’s best to avoid sharing personal information while gaming.
5. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks
While it’s true that gamers don’t have to worry about being targeted by individual Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, this is still a legitimate threat.
The reason for this is that DDoS attacks are capable of taking down servers from leading gaming providers like EA and Activision, potentially locking our players and compromising their personal identifying information.
Conclusion
Whether you’re just getting started or have extensive experience playing FIFA, eFootball, and other football games, it’s essential to maintain high safety levels while gaming online.
Some of the biggest digital threats that football gamers face include phishing attacks, social engineering, viruses, and DDoS hacks, among other types of attacks. Fortunately, there are many steps you can take to protect yourself.
Besides safekeeping your online assets, avoiding the threats above can also minimize the chances of getting exposed to bullying or behavior that could negatively affect your mental health.
Comments