Online Games – How to protect the devices from Computer Viruses

2013 has been a year full of new and dangerous malware for PCs and mobile devices. Judging by the year draws to a close, the estimates made in 2013 by Kaspersky Lab on the spread of viruses and malware, data indicate growing, due both to the proliferation of technological devices is the growth of opportunities for use of the network. A critical and highly sensitive to the penetration of computer viruses is that of gaming.

The use of video games through the network is massive, and often overlooked as an opportunity for hackers to gain access to our devices and steal our most sensitive data, the top online gaming it was an activity that was held in solitary. Now it has become an experience that involves more than one user. The players are increasingly using cross-platform and can interact with other players around the world.

As the Internet becomes more important than ever, good anti-virus allow it to be particularly vigilant and to better protect   devices, fixed or mobile, even when we’re playing on the network. Today, Kaspersky Lab has identified about 4.6 million types of malware that focus on online gaming, with the total number of attacks on players who reached the figure of 11.7 million globally.

On an average day, users have been hit by 34,000 malware attacks coming from the online game. Among the countries most affected by these attacks are Russia (8.81305 million attacks), Vietnam ranks second (503,947 attacks), followed by China (376,058 attacks). Earlier this year, Kaspersky Lab has detected a major campaign of spying on a series of massive multiplayer online games, with the source code and other valuable data stolen. The multi player gaming platforms are the most sensitive target, such as the wildly popular Minecraft, for which this year has been designed in a java application capable of stealing user names and passwords.

There are other types of fraud affecting online gaming. For example, when the game Grand Theft Auto V was released earlier this year, there have been a number of sites that offered downloads false: what online users downloaded the game, but it was not very dangerous malware. Then there are the traditional scams, like phishing. A series of e-mails are sent every time, there is the launch of a game, especially at Christmas, trying to lure users in order to steal data or money with the promise of discounts or gaming products at low cost.

The gaming sees a growing number of users involved, and consequently, the number of potential victims of cyber crimes is increasing. In times such as Christmas, when new games are released, users must be even more careful to protect your equipment and invest in adequate protection.

Kaspersky Lab offers a few tips to stay safe online gaming: 

• Do not click on any offer of games, from e-mail or social networks like Facebook or Twitter.
• Use varied and complex passwords for all accounts used by the game.
• Use a good quality anti-virus.
• Download games ensuring the legitimacy of the seller.