Semalt: Major Threats An Online Gamer Can Face And Ways To Cope With Them

23.05.2018

Semalt: Major Threats An Online Gamer Can Face And Ways To Cope With Them

The gaming world has undergone tremendous improvements over the last decade. The hackers have not been left behind and continue to wreak havoc by releasing malware and ransomware that speci cally target online gamers.

Today, Max Bell, the Semalt Customer Success Manager, offers to look at the top 5 threats for online gamers and how to avoid them.

TeslaCrypt Ransomware is designed to lock you out of your computer until you pay a speci ed amount of money as ransom.

TeslaCrypt is programmed to encrypt game-play data for most of the popular online games. You will have to pay a ransom in order to access their les and continue enjoying your favorite games. Minecraft and Call of Duty are two of the common games that this ransomware is known to target.

Even though the developers of this software have terminated their le recovery service, this ransomware is still out there and spreading fast. Luckily, there is a decryption tool that is speci cally tailored for this ransomware you can https://rankexperience.com/articles/article1264.html

1/3

23.05.2018

download and use to get access to your system.

Password Stealers Password Stealers are also referred to as keyloggers. They capture keyboard strikes and can even steal your personal information such as credit card numbers. This threat has in the past managed to steal gamers access to an online game such as Origin and Steam.

One of the tactics used to infect computers is when a potential victim receives a chat message from a fellow player to join a team. The unknown player usually praises victims for their skills and invites them to join a circle of great players. Afterwards, the victim is prompted to download and install an application that comes bundled with the keylogger. You can get rid of this threat by using one of the reputable anti-malware programs.

Fake Game Cracks Just like the keyloggers, this threat relies on social engineering technique to infect victim computers. The victim is lured to download and install a crack version of a game that he/she loves playing when in a real sense he/she is installing malicious software. Even though installing the le allow a gamer to play the game without purchasing the license it installs malicious software that can compromise the functionalism of the PC or steal personal information such as passwords if it is a keylogger.

The only solution to this threat is avoiding cracked versions of games. Go an extra mile and have a robust anti-virus that can scan and delete such malware from your system completely.

Fake Applications Currently you can download the game on your smartphone to play while on the go. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of fake applications that masquerade as the of cial games. Download such an app will compromise your mobile device. It might be a ransomware or a virus that will wipe data off your smartphone immediately you install it.

Phishing Phishing attempts have become very common over the last few years. Since virtually all savvy internet users who are gamers have an email, the hacker will send an email that looks similar to the legit email from the original gaming company. Clicking on the links contained in the email automatically install adware, malware, or spyware on the computer or mobile device.

The bottom line is that you need to be careful when playing games online. Watch which links you click on, apps that you download, and have a robust antivirus program installed on your computer and smartphone to lock out these https://rankexperience.com/articles/article1264.html

2/3

23.05.2018

threats.

https://rankexperience.com/articles/article1264.html

3/3