Japanese & Korean Game Companies are on Target of Hackers

AhnLab, a security software firm, conducted an important study of ten security problems of 2007 and unveiled that the number of hacking cases are rising and affecting the Internet games sites in Korea and Japan. The cyber crooks are employing a new method for earning money - they steal the personal information of users to steal virtual goods and them for money.

Internet gaming is growing worldwide. In spite of its conventional definition that it is a time-pass activity, it must be checked by security staff thoroughly.

According to a statement given by the staffer of AhnLab, the cyber black market is increasingly being used for selling virtual valuables such as games in exchange of money, as reported by The Chosun I1bo on December 26, 2007. The staffer also said that IDs, credit cards and other personal information of gamers are transacted in the cyber black market and the problem would become darker as more and more people begin playing games on the Internet.

Now the gaming concerns have become a cause of worry for security analysts and they are started to recognize it as a big threat. Online game creators are providing a way for hackers to target people who like to play online games. Cyber crooks make a great deal of money by producing fake virtual wealth, which later on could be distributed and transformed into the real money.

ScanSafe, a web security and service provider, has described the gaming issues in relation to Web 2.0. The firm has also described that the sole aim of hackers is to use backdoor, bots and trojans extensively to pilfer "in-game and rare items". As per ScanSafe, Second Life and many other virtual worlds based on avatars would be the biggest target of hackers in coming months.

San Jose Mercury News reported that experienced hackers could make use of Second Life to steal important personal information of online users. Charles Miller and Dino Zovi, community members, have found a potential exploit in Second Life, which permits hackers to avoid security aspects put in place to save the users from thievery of their recoverable in-world funds.

Related article: Japanese Text Editor Reports Flaw

» SPAMfighter News - 1/9/2008