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Game On: Cyber Criminals Want Your Multi-player Online Game Passwords

Opinion
Sep 06, 20082 mins
Identity Management Solutions

McAfee’s Avert antivirus labs found that almost half of all password-stealing Trojan software detected in the last year target multiplayer online games like “World of Warcraft,” “Everquest” and “Lineage.” Just a game? No big business and big money.

An article in Forbes pointed to this McAfee report while adding several comments like: “Cybercriminals have targeted gamers for years. But the growth of those in-game economies, combined with new protections on bank accounts like fraud detection and authentication systems, means games have become the path of least resistance, says Gary McGraw, a security consultant with Dulles, Va.-based Cigital, and author of Exploiting Online Games.

 How are we to help solve these problems? McAfee also offers many solutions at their Avert Labs White Paper website.  One PDF is entitled, ” Securing Virtual Worlds Against Real Attacks– The challenges of online game development.” 

As the Forbes Magazine article points out, cyber criminals still would love your banking and other personal details. And yet, it is clear that they will go after anything that can be turned into cash. Game passwords seem to be an easier target. 

Alas, the old days of playing the board game Monopoly with the family seem to gone. But the motive to get all the money (in Monopoly) is alive and well – but it’s not a game.   

dlohrmann

Daniel J. Lohrmann is an internationally recognized cybersecurity leader, technologist and author. During his distinguished career, Dan has served global organizations in the public and private sectors in a variety of executive leadership capacities, including enterprise-wide Chief Security Officer (CSO), Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) roles in Michigan State Government. Dan was named: "CSO of the Year," "Public Official of the Year," and a Computerworld "Premier 100 IT Leader." Dan is the co-author of the Wiley book, “Cyber Mayday and the Day After: A Leader’s Guide to Preparing, Managing and Recovering From Inevitable Business Disruptions.” Dan Lohrmann joined Presidio in November 2021 as an advisory CISO supporting mainly public sector clients. He formerly served as the Chief Strategist and Chief Security Officer for Security Mentor, Inc. Dan started his career at the National Security Agency (NSA). He worked for three years in England as a senior network engineer for Lockheed Martin (formerly Loral Aerospace) and for four years as a technical director for ManTech International in a US / UK military facility. Lohrmann is on the advisory board for four university information assurance (IA) programs, including Norwich University, University of Detroit Mercy (UDM), Valparaiso University and Walsh College. Earlier in his career he authored two books - Virtual Integrity: Faithfully Navigating the Brave New Web and BYOD For You: The Guide to Bring Your Own Device to Work. Mr. Lohrmann holds a Master's Degree in Computer Science (CS) from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and a Bachelor's Degree in CS from Valparaiso University in Indiana.

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