McAfee's Avert antivirus labs found that almost half of all password-stealing Trojan software detected in the last year target multiplayer online games like "World of Warcraft," "Everquest" and "Lineage." Just a game? No big business and big money.
An article in Forbes pointed to this McAfee report while adding several comments like: "Cybercriminals have targeted gamers for years. But the growth of those in-game economies, combined with new protections on bank accounts like fraud detection and authentication systems, means games have become the path of least resistance, says Gary McGraw, a security consultant with Dulles, Va.-based Cigital, and author of Exploiting Online Games. "
How are we to help solve these problems? McAfee also offers many solutions at their Avert Labs White Paper website. One PDF is entitled, " Securing Virtual Worlds Against Real Attacks-- The challenges of online game development."
As the Forbes Magazine article points out, cyber criminals still would love your banking and other personal details. And yet, it is clear that they will go after anything that can be turned into cash. Game passwords seem to be an easier target.
Alas, the old days of playing the board game Monopoly with the family seem to gone. But the motive to get all the money (in Monopoly) is alive and well - but it's not a game.
