Page 9 - Cybersecurity Career Guide for North Dakota

Keeping Gamers Going
Stuck at home during the pandemic, many of us turned to video games for entertainment. Hackers turned to video games for profit. The year 2020 saw a 340 percent increase over 2019 in web application video game attacks, the biggest increase for any in- dustry. In June 2021, hackers broke into the systems of Electronic Arts and stole 780 gigabytes' worth
of source code used in the company's games. The hackers boasted that they gained full access to FIFA 21 servers, as well as the source code and debugging tools for EA’s most popular games, such as Battle- field, FIFA, and Madden. Stolen source code could subsequently be sold and copied by other developers or used to create hacks for games. Overall, criminals seek any opportunity to exploit video game players who spend real money on virtual, in-game items
like skins, character enhancements, and additional levels. They look to steal player email addresses, passwords, login details, and geolocation informa- tion, which they can then sell on criminal markets. What a way to ruin the fun!
Helping Hotels Stay Safe
With unsecured Wi-Fi and large guest databases to exploit, hotels are essentially catnip to cybercriminals. They’ve tapped into everything from the info that guests send to the hotel’s hotspot to entire company databases. The latter happened
to Marriott in 2018, when hackers accessed the records of
339 million customers. Another attack in 2020 compromised 5.2 million more guest records. What’s more, a month later, an investigation into the vulnerabilities of travel companies by Which? found nearly 500 weak points on Marriott-run sites, including 96 that were deemed critical. Hotels have locks
on the doors, but the locks on your data tend to be weak.
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