Have you ever been so caught up in the fun of a game that maintaining your digital security slips right out of your mind? All it takes is one ad to pop up, offering an amazing deal, and we’ve given our bank details without thinking twice. If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. Luckily, the majority of offers to purchase games or in-game assets are legitimate, and we can go about our days with whatever new content we purchased, still digitally secure. But this isn’t always the case.
Hacks and scams are on the rise, and many are targeting the online gaming world to operate from. At best, these cyber criminals will only steal your data to sell on; at worst, they might be coming directly for your personal finances. The online world is no longer a safe place, and since gaming tends to be quite a distracting pastime, it’s exceedingly important that we remember to keep our information safe, but how do we do this?
Firstly, it's important to ensure the legitimacy of any gaming platforms you are making use of. One way to do this is to only choose gaming platforms that are recommended by trusted sites. For example, Casinobeats present a rating system for numerous online casino platforms available for Canadian residents. Each option has been tried and tested by casino experts who can vouch for their legitimacy.
That being said, many gaming platforms are not legitimate and are set up with the sole purpose of tricking you into sharing your payment details and stealing your funds. Because of this, it’s important that we all learn the red flags that indicate a dodgy site. When choosing a new gaming platform, look for the ‘https://’ or a padlock at the start of the URL. This indicates that your information is being encrypted and is a good indicator that a site is secure. If the platform doesn’t have this, then that is reason enough alone to avoid. Similarly, before committing to any games and certainly before providing the site with any personal information, it’s a good idea to browse the site. Keep an eye out for spelling and grammar errors, informal language, or a lack of legitimate contact details, as these are all big indicators of a dodgy platform.
All this being said, cybercrime is evolving, and sometimes our vigilance isn’t enough. Even connecting to the internet, especially publicly available WIFI, can be enough to compromise your information. That’s why all gamers should invest in a quality Virtual Private Network, more commonly known as a VPN. This is tech that goes above and beyond when it comes to ensuring the cybersecurity of all internet users. In brief, VPNs work by encrypting your IP address and making it appear as if you are accessing the internet from somewhere else in the world. Not only does this make it exceedingly difficult for cyber criminals to trace your activity back to a source, but it can also enable gamers to access geographically restricted content, often opening the doors to early access games and gaming content not usually available in their country of residence.
