34,000 daily hacking attempts on gamers – report

By Brenna Hillier

Gamers are prime targets for hackers, a cyber security firm has warned, with an eye-opening number of attacks made each day.

According to Kaspersky Lab, gamers attracted about 34,000 attacks each day in 2013 for a total of 11.7 million, with at least 4.6 million pieces of malware being brought to bear on them.

In Europe, Spain is the worst affected, with 138,786 attacks so far this year. Poland is next with 127,509, then Italy with 75,080.

The attacks target gamers while they’re using PCs, and attempt to nab your username and password, which can then be sold; that may explain why Sony has been so vigilant in issuing password resets on both the European and North American PSN. Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto 5 and MMORPGs are of particular interest to hackers.

To protect your gaming ID, use common sense – watch for phishing emails and sites; use strong, unique passwords; change your password regularly; don’t engage with shady practices like gold selling or piracy; and keep your PC free of viruses and malware.

Thanks, GamePolitics.