Christmas Warning: Kaspersky Lab Finds 11.7 Million Attacks on Gamers in 2013

[Sitting Out]

17 Dec 2013
Virus News

Kaspersky Lab experts have discovered that PC gamers around the globe were hit by a massive number of attacks in 2013. Currently Kaspersky Lab knows 4.6 million pieces of malware which focus on gaming, with the total number of attacks facing gamers reaching 11.7 million globally. On average, users were hit by 34,000 attacks from gaming malware every day. With Christmas coming up hundreds of thousands are expecting to receive games as presents, so Kaspersky Lab experts are recommending users take the right precautions.

Russian gamers were the most at risk, as hackers made 8,813,050 attempts on them from 1 January to December 2013. Vietnam was in second with 503,947, followed by China on 376,058. Here’s the global top 10:

Russian Federation: 8,813,050
Vietnam: 503,947
China: 376,058
India: 207,245
Spain: 139,078
Poland: 127,583
Turkey: 121,164
Taiwan: 97,843
Thailand: 92,914
Italy: 75,155

Gamers face all kinds of different digital assaults on their systems. Underground forums, such as the Steam portal and marketplace, are ridden with cyber crooks selling access to people’s gaming accounts. The market for usernames and passwords is fuelled by attacks on the gaming companies themselves. Earlier this year, Kaspersky Lab detected a major espionage campaign on a range of massive multiplayer online games makers, with source code and other valuable data stolen.

Malware designers target specific games, such as the hugely popular Minecraft. Earlier this year, a fake Minecraft tool built with Java promised to give the player powers such as banning other users, but in the background it was stealing usernames and passwords. When Grand Theft Auto V landed earlier this year, various sites offered fake downloads to access the record-breaking game for free. But when users tried to get the game, all they got was malware - a classic example of powerful names being abused to lure victims into downloading malicious code.
Then there are the traditional scams, like phishing. Slews of emails are sent out every time a big gaming launch happens, especially at Christmas, attempting to lure users into handing over data or money with the promise of discounts or cheap gaming goods...

http://www.kaspersky.com/about/news/...Gamers-in-2013
Now this, 34k hacking attempts/day just targeting gamers. With all the hacking news lately it makes me think it's time to diminish my online presence limiting it to just a few essential sites. I do use unique PW's, but my em addresses are pretty much the same. As hacking seems to be getting worse, I'm going to begin to button things down. (yes, I had a sealswithclubs account, which I hadn't used for over a year, but now is comprised)

[4Dragons]

In b4 kaspersky is behind the attacks then subsequent report to sell more software.

[ftpjesus]

17 Dec 2013
Virus News

Kaspersky Lab experts have discovered that PC gamers around the globe were hit by a massive number of attacks in 2013. Currently Kaspersky Lab knows 4.6 million pieces of malware which focus on gaming, with the total number of attacks facing gamers reaching 11.7 million globally. On average, users were hit by 34,000 attacks from gaming malware every day. With Christmas coming up hundreds of thousands are expecting to receive games as presents, so Kaspersky Lab experts are recommending users take the right precautions.

Russian gamers were the most at risk, as hackers made 8,813,050 attempts on them from 1 January to December 2013. Vietnam was in second with 503,947, followed by China on 376,058. Here’s the global top 10:

Russian Federation: 8,813,050
Vietnam: 503,947
China: 376,058
India: 207,245
Spain: 139,078
Poland: 127,583
Turkey: 121,164
Taiwan: 97,843
Thailand: 92,914
Italy: 75,155

Gamers face all kinds of different digital assaults on their systems. Underground forums, such as the Steam portal and marketplace, are ridden with cyber crooks selling access to people’s gaming accounts. The market for usernames and passwords is fuelled by attacks on the gaming companies themselves. Earlier this year, Kaspersky Lab detected a major espionage campaign on a range of massive multiplayer online games makers, with source code and other valuable data stolen.

Malware designers target specific games, such as the hugely popular Minecraft. Earlier this year, a fake Minecraft tool built with Java promised to give the player powers such as banning other users, but in the background it was stealing usernames and passwords. When Grand Theft Auto V landed earlier this year, various sites offered fake downloads to access the record-breaking game for free. But when users tried to get the game, all they got was malware - a classic example of powerful names being abused to lure victims into downloading malicious code.
Then there are the traditional scams, like phishing. Slews of emails are sent out every time a big gaming launch happens, especially at Christmas, attempting to lure users into handing over data or money with the promise of discounts or cheap gaming goods...

http://www.kaspersky.com/about/news/...Gamers-in-2013
Now this, 34k hacking attempts/day just targeting gamers. With all the hacking news lately it makes me think it's time to diminish my online presence limiting it to just a few essential sites. I do use unique PW's, but my em addresses are pretty much the same. As hacking seems to be getting worse, I'm going to begin to button things down. (yes, I had a sealswithclubs account, which I hadn't used for over a year, but now is comprised)

How is the USA didnt crack the top 10 is beyond me. Guess its saying something considering the shear numbers of gamers in the US that people actually put a condom on their PCs and dont fuck around online excessively