Video games are extremely popular, particularly with teenagers and even younger children and, of course, as I always say, anything popular with people is popular with scammers.  In this case scammers are targeting gamers as a way of getting at their parents’ computers, laptops and phones as well as their parents’ employers as well.

Scammers use a variety of techniques to hack gamers.  In some instances they hide malware in cheat codes, which are used to access hidden features or skip levels.  This malware hidden in the cheat codes can then steal information and data not only from the family computer or laptop used by the gamer, but if the parents are working remotely, can enable the hacker to access the parents’ companies computers unless proper precautions are taken.

A vulnerability in the popular Grand Theft Auto V video game was exploited by hackers to install malware that affected everyone playing the game’s PC version.

TIPS

Parents would be wise to not use the same computer for personal financial matters and business use that their children use for video games.  Also, in order to protect your various online accounts even if a hacker manages to hack your computer, you should make sure you use dual factor authentication on all of your accounts.

Children and adults shouldn’t use debit cards for online purchases.  Your protection from fraudulent use when a hacker hacks into video game accounts and other online accounts and steals your debit card number is far less than the protection you get when you use a debit card.

And, of course, make sure you use security software on all of your devices as well as make sure that you install security updates as soon as they are available.

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