In the past, many people viewed console gaming as the pinnacle of the gaming experience.
However, as time moved forward, gamers’ tastes have changed. Many modern gamers have traded in their old consoles for top-of-the-line gaming PCs. These powerful devices drastically improve your in-game experience and can help you save money on multiplayer games.
Despite these benefits, there is one downside to gaming on a PC; PC gamers are more likely to get hacked or fall victim to a cyber threat.
Falling victim to a cyber threat can lead to a wide array of repercussions, some of which include:
- Compromise your personal or financial data
- Lose access to your gaming accounts
- Identity theft or fraud
But how exactly does one get hacked?
Unfortunately, there’s no black and white answer to this question. There are several ways that hackers can obtain your personal or financial data.
This is why PC gamers should know how to identify and deal with these issues. Although it’s impossible to list all of the cyber threats in one article, you can start with the following examples:
Email Phishing Scams
Many people are all too familiar with phone phishing scams. It’s not uncommon for some users to receive one or more phishing calls per day. However, not everyone knows that phishing scams are also executed over email.
Email phishing scams are cyber-attacks that are used to trick unwitting users into giving up their personal or financial data. This is generally done by sending an altered email to a large number of users (in this case, PC gamers).
When a gamer opens the email, they will be asked to fill in game-related or financial information on a third-party website. If the user complies, they’ve unknowingly given their data to a cyber-attacker.
Thankfully, there’s a way that you can block phishing scams on your PC: by downloading a premium antivirus program from a trustworthy cybersecurity company.
Unlike free antivirus software, the best antivirus software uses heuristic technology to efficiently scan your gaming PC for signs of cyber threats, including phishing scams.
If you happen to click on a compromised link from a phishing email, your antivirus software will block out the site. This stops you from sharing your data and safeguards your device from malicious software (malware) that may be lurking on a compromised website.
SQL Injections
Structured query language injections (generally shortened to SQL injections) have become one of the fastest-growing threats to PC gamers. SQL injections are a type of cyber threat that obtains information from vulnerable databases.
Since approximately 1998, hackers have used SQL injections to obtain players’ credentials, such as usernames and passwords. Not only does this allow hackers to drain your account of in-game and real-life currency, but it also jeopardizes any accounts that have the same credentials.
Although there’s little that players can do to deal with an SQL injection, they can proactively avoid them by using the following tips:
- Avoid playing games that have been infected with SQL injections in the past
- Never share your credentials online
- Use different usernames and passwords for your accounts
- Create an email specifically for your gaming accounts
Whether you’re new to PC gaming or consider yourself a veteran, you should make use of the tips mentioned above.
About Nick
Nick is a Software Engineer. He has interest in gadgets and technical stuffs. If you are facing any problem with your Windows, feel free to ask him.