Identity Theft Report Warns Of Increased Video Game Hacks In 2019

Gamers can't seem to catch a break when it comes to security, DDOS attacks, server stability, or dealing with account security. In a new report, it's indicated that 2019 won't be kind to gamers. The year will play host to plenty of potential game hacks.

The report comes courtesy of Experian, which was picked up by Quartz. In the forecast it predicts that video game data breaches will be a major issue in 2019. This comes from the presumption that it can be easy to pose as a gamer, build trust within a certain community, gain access to information, and then exploit it for nefarious purposes.

The report also goes over the possibility of having in-game credits stolen, weapons lifted, and other items that can be sold for actual money.

Experian also notes that a lot of the potential victims are kids, mostly playing games like Fortnite. The report indicates that a lot of young gamers could be susceptible to the machinations of hackers looking to take advantage of gamers.

This is almost similar to scammers calling up older people, retirees, and those on social security, claiming to be a loved one or someone from the bank. Those scammers take advantage of the elderly and steal from them whatever they can, usually credit cards and whatnot.

For video games, the targets and the intentions are a little different. Experian points out that some people are only intent on trolling other players, as we've oftentimes seen in games like Grand Theft Auto Online, and I'm sure we'll also see it in the online portion of Red Dead Redemption 2.

The trolling aspects of online interaction may not be that bad to deal with, but the hacking aspects can really ruin the fun for plenty of gamers. This epidemic was bad enough that Epic Games felt the best way to deal with it was by suing a 14-year-old cheat hacker in Fortnite. Epic didn't win a whole lot of brownie points from the teenager's mother, but the company was obviously trying to get a point across with the legal action.

Still, the most vulnerable gamers out there are those who end up losing their accounts with all their games on it. Experian suggested that gamers definitely take measures to secure their account, which I presume includes pursuing things like two-step authentication or sending password codes to your mobile phone to access certain game accounts.

With some of the game consoles being hacked, such as the Nintendo Switch, it makes the system especially vulnerable for exploitation. Some people have already begun working on emulators for the Switch, as well as implementing homebrew content on Nintendo's hybrid console. This has resulted in some hackers exploiting games like Mario Kart 8: Deluxe and Splatoon 2.

PS4 and Xbox One owners haven't had to deal with those levels of intrusion from hackers, but they have had to deal with DDOS attacks on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live rather frequently a few years ago. If you take steps to protect your accounts you should be fairly safe against any general attacks on your account, even if hackers get more ambitious in 2019.