News of online gamblers and online casinos getting hacked get out from time to time. With more gamblers doing mobile gambling on smartphones and tablets, the risk of falling victim to these malicious attacks is even higher. What types of attacks are you likely to face as an online gambler?
- Phishing attacks – This is where you are falsely led to giving out your login credentials or personal data like banking information
- Malicious software – These are viruses and unwanted programs that sit in your device to launch nefarious processes like bombarding you with spam marketing data, or collecting your data
- Resource attacks- These attacks turn your device into a resource as a part of a botnet to do cryptocurrency mining or attacks on other devices
- Data breaches – This occurs when your casino’s website is breached and customer data is stolen.
You can protect yourself from online attacks when gambling in online casinos by following safe practices including;
Research before signing up
Are you signing up on a genuine site? it is a common trick for crooks to set up clone websites of popular online casinos. One way to know whether you are on the right website is by looking at the security certificate. This can be located at the green padlock that is to the left of the address bar. It should read as same as the details of the right casino.
Other considerations you should make include:
- Age of the casino
- Reviews by existing and previous customers
- Types of deposits and withdrawals allowed
- Licensing and Jurisdiction
- Privacy policy – This is very important as it spells out what an online casino can and cannot do with customer data
Ensure that you access an online casino’s link from another website, only if it is an authority site like NJ-Bet.com.
Phishing attack prevention
Spam emails are the most common entry pointers of crooks when doing a phishing attack. This is usually in highly enticing offers of promotions that encourage you to click on a malicious link. Another tactic to watch out for is an email urging you to make changes to your account when there is no need to.
Many email providers like Gmail and yahoo have very good spam filters. However, it is important to click on the sender, and scrutinize the sending address. Malicious email addresses will often be variations of the genuine casino’s email, which you can compare on the Contact Us page.
Prevention against malicious software
Many online casinos are offering smartphone apps for better online gambling experiences. Hackers will often entice unsuspecting gamblers to download and install malicious app especially from unauthorized sites like mirror sites. It is important to download apps from an online casino’s website, or through links provided on the site to the Google Play Store or Apple store.
It is also crucial to install antivirus software on your device. Several good choices are offering free antivirus and internet security apps for free. Ensure that you regularly scan your device, preferably weekly.
Prevention against unauthorized resource use
Hackers often network hacked devices into botnets that can be used for providing computing power for activities like cryptocurrency mining. One way of telling whether your device is compromised is by looking at its performance. Is it overheating or too slow? This could be a result of malicious software running in the background and using your device’s processing power. A good antivirus app can fish out these malicious processes. You can also reset the device if antivirus scans are not helping.
Prevention against data breaches
An online casino’s security is beyond your reach, but there are measures you can take when you become aware of a data breach. Online casinos are required to alert their customers when data breaches happen, like in the recent example of the Betsson AB Group data breach. You should;
- Change your passwords immediately, including passwords on other sites because it is likely to have common passwords across sites
- Institute a credit lock on your credit profile such that your details cannot be used to carry out unauthorized credit transactions
- Change credit and debit cards if possible
Crooks will always target online gamblers and keep trying new methods. It is important to stay vigilant to avoid financial loss and misuse of your data.
