Video games are one of the most popular entertainments of the modern world. There are so many cool, engaging, and fun games that an experienced gamer would just raise an eyebrow to express the lack of understanding to the phrase “I’m bored” someone utters. Because it’s impossible to get bored when there are so many games one can play.
This popularity made games one of the attractive aims for malefactors. If a decade ago game developers were mostly bothered with cheaters, today their main issue is hackers who try to steal valuable data and even money from players. However, sometimes malefactors walk an extra mile to just mess the game for their opponents.
Which games are the most hacked?
Obviously, the more popular the game is the more attention from hackers it deserves. So if you want to guess which games are the most hacked, you can just remember all the most played titles out there. Why do malefactors choose the most played games? Because the bigger the target is, the easier it is to get it. It’s hard to prevent an attack when there are a lot of people playing the game because virtually every player becomes a vulnerability.
So, here is the list of the most hacked games. We’re sure, it won’t come as a surprise to you.
- Fortnite
- Overwatch
- Counter-strike: Global Offensive
- Call of Duty: Warzone
- Destiny 2
There is another solid reason why hackers choose these games when it comes to cheating. The most popular hacks in these games are aim-bots and wallhacks. The first one locks in the player’s weapon to a target’s head allowing them to get a headshot to kill without any issues from across the map. Wallhacks make walls transparent for a cheater.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s a blinding desire to be the best one or the cash prize for winning the game that pushes players to use cheats. What matters is that if someone can implement cheats into a game, it means that this game can be vulnerable to other types of more harmful attacks, too.
What are the other reasons for attacks?
Getting a win is one reason. But that’s the reason for those who play a game. Many hackers have grander ideas on their minds. A lot of gaming tournaments and high-profile games become aims for malefactors who seek to get valuable data such as payment information. Let’s take a look at the types of information hackers can hunt for.
Login details
By acquiring a player’s login and password, a malefactor can get access to a lot of other useful data and actions. For example, since many games offer in-game purchases, a hacker can get access to the payment information of a victim. Also, today many in-game items cost real-world money. One can sell the in-game weapon, skins, and other virtual things to other players for hundreds of dollars. So there is no wonder malefactors keep trying to hack games, especially popular ones. Today this malicious activity can bring a lot of money.
Source code
Another thing hackers aim for is source code. In 2021, Projekt Red with its Cyberpunk and Witcher games became a victim. Malefactors stole the source code leaving a ransom note on the developer’s site. Projekt Red decided to ignore the note and paid a high price for this decision — the source code was sold to an anonymous bidder. The bidding started at 1 million US dollars with a buy-it-now option of 7 million dollars.
Another recent victim is EA Games. And we must say that many gamers cheered themselves at this news because of the greediness of this game developer. Hackers gained access to the EA Games Slack channel and told the support they’ve lost their corporate phones at a party. So the company sent them new ones. This gave malefactors access to the inner working of EA Games and allowed them to steal the source code for Fifa 21, a set of development tools, and a huge amount of other game-creating data. Hackers didn’t even ask for ransom — they just sold the data at illegal auction houses.
How to stay safe while gaming?
If you’re not a big fan of indie games and you tend to play popular titles released by large-scale developers, you should think about your security. The first thing you can do is to get used to turning on a VPN app before you start playing. iNinja is a completely free VPN app that will cover your IP address and encrypt the data you send and receive thus protecting your activity and information from prying eyes. iNinja won’t interfere with your connection speed and will protect you without you noticing any difference. You can get this VPN app for Windows and macOS as well as mobile devices.
Another thing you want to do is to come up with a really complex, secure, and unique password for your gaming account. Don’t use the same combination for any other account! And it’s better to generate a random set of letters and numbers to create a strong password. You can use a password manager so that it will remember all the combinations for you and store them in the encrypted vault.
The next measure is to try to avoid adding your payment information to your account. If you want to make an in-game purchase, you can enter your credit card data without saving it to the account. And if you can’t avoid saving, delete the information right after the purchase. Then, even if malefactors get into your account, they won’t get your bank card data.
And finally, don’t overshare about yourself in a game. Stay as anonymous as you can be to avoid identity theft.
Video games are extremely fun and satisfying. So let’s not let hackers spoil all the positive emotions we get from gaming. By staying cautious and using iNinja you can avoid becoming a victim and protect your sensitive data from theft. Of course, it’s hard to protect yourself if malefactors get their hands on a game’s server and database. But we still should do as much as we can to stay safe.
