Most Alarming Mobile Gaming Security Threats Developers Should Know

The present-day market of mobile games is valued at $90.7 billion. This significantly highlights the continued growth potential for mobile gaming. And it is no surprise that mobile games have become an enticing target for numerous hackers.

There are some threat actors who wish to gain an unfair financial edge or competitive advantage. Whereas some gamers just wish to save a few bucks on games. No wonder both types of people are regarded as hackers. And they are very likely to have a severe impact on the reputation and revenue of a Mobile Game Development Company.

This is where the question of “how is it possible for mobile game developers to protect their game’s integrity?” arises. The most straightforward answer to this question is app hardening.

Today, in this article, we will be highlighting some significant mobile gaming security threats. As a mobile game developer, you should be familiar with them and know how to prevent them. Come, let’s check them out.

• Hurtful Bullying and Trolls

Most online games are incorporated with the option of texting or voice messaging. Even though this feature is highly beneficial for communicating with other players, it is widely abused. So, in the heat of any online gaming battle, cursing or insulting is most commonly heard of. Some players even cross the line and go on to bully each other.

• Phishing

It is just the same tactics that scammers deliberately use to trick people. Here, people are scammed by acquiring bank passwords, credit card numbers, and gaming account logins. In such a case, criminals efficiently build something that looks exactly like an online gaming website. Here, the players are urged to validate their accounts by changing their passwords.

And as a result, if the gamers don’t comply, they are threatened to block their account permanently. The primary aim of such actions is to resell the active gaming account on the black market.

• Inventory and Character Theft

Hackers are likely to target in-game resources, paid game accounts, well-developed characters, or associated credit-card data. Even though the latter is the hardest to target, others might get stolen from you in multiple ways. It includes password-stealing malware, phishing, in-game fraud, etc.

In other words, the better your account or character is, the greater the chances of criminals targeting you. This is highly relevant for well-developed games that host enormous loyal audiences across the world.

• Frauds and Cheats

As per the type and rules of the game, there might be multiple ways of cheating. While some of them are considered legitimate, some aren’t. Some players take the best advantage of any significant error they discover in the game’s server code. This is only to gain an advantage in-game.

Other frauds involve game fixing, virtual fraud, and incorporating virtual gangs to rob novice players. Gamers might sometimes encounter a person offering them some inventory advantage for a discounted price. No wonder such offers typically turn out to be the biggest scams.

• Ads Patching

You should note that ads patching might have an immediate impact on the ability of mobile games. And that too for generating additional revenue. This is a slightly different take on piracy, as in-app ads are deliberately annoying for mobile gamers.

Basically, ad content in games is enough of a nuisance to some gamers. And they will seek certain ways to overcome and get around the interruptions. Even though it is not always malicious intent, ad patching can significantly impact mobile game developers.

Ads patching can literally appear as:

• Reducing ads and redirecting profits
• Removing all ads

Conclusion

Whenever it comes to security, the gaming industry is primarily becoming the target of hackers. However, most gaming businesses are always under pressure to develop and deliver new games and updates. And all of this is happening at an unprecedented speed to maintain their business share within the market.

This has significantly paved the way for many Game Development Services to experience a plethora of security issues and vulnerabilities. In fact, hackers are targeting and exploiting the online gaming world more than any other business vertical. This is why it is important for game developers to be aware of the probable security threats.

Thus, you will have to take the correct security steps and avoid significant damage.