In the world of online casino, there is no greater threat posed to providers than hackers. As a result of this, online casinos and games providers such as NetEnt invest heavily in making sure that their defenses and firewalls are up to the latest standards.
WHY DO CASINOS PROTECT THEMSELVES AGAINST HACKERS?
Ever since the invention of the internet, there has been a new type of criminal. But, unlike conventional criminals who do their illegal acts in person, cybercrime can strike you in the comfort of your own home without you even knowing. These revolutionary acts of violence and chaos are now one of the biggest threats to the iGaming industry. A simple hack of a server could change the fortunes for an online casino forever as players will not feel safe providing personal information such as bank details and their address if they know the casino has been hacked in the past.
WHO HAS BEEN HACKED IN THE PAST?
Online casino and iGaming is one of the fastest growing industries on the planet with a number of new websites and providers popping up every week. As a result of this, hackers are faced with new targets almost on a daily basis. But it is not only the new boys who come under attack, in recent times some of the bigger well-known providers have seen their accounts being hacked.
William Hill
At the back end of October 2016, a number of online casinos and providers got the news that there was a new version of distributed denial of service (DDoS) that was in circulation. William Hill was one of the higher profile sites to be hit. Known as one of the UK’s biggest betting companies, the hack on William Hill resulted in huge financial implications and a number of players left the site.
Zynga Corporation
Back in 2011, an English hacker by the name of Ashley Mitchell, hacked into the Zynga Corporation and stole over 400 billion chips that were worth £7.5million at the time. He then transferred the chips into fake Facebook accounts that he could then sell on to paying customers at a considerably lower price.
Camelot
In November 2016, the operator of the UK National Lottery, Camelot, was hacked of some 26,500 accounts. The players who were affected had personal information such as their address and bank details taken.