Why is cybersecurity a growing concern in online casinos?

The casino industry, once a niche, has become a global phenomenon. In fact, studies have it that there are about 176 million active online players, a figure that could hit 210 million by the end of 2025. As if that’s not enough, it’s believed that about 4.2 billion people gamble more than once per year.

As a result, the global online industry now stands at $19.11 billion and could grow by a CAGR of about 12.2% within the next few years, according to approximations by Grand View Research. Of course, the industry has been using different things to help it grow. For example, features like vegasslotsonline no deposit bonus offers help make the gameplay more engaging by encouraging risk-free exploration and, thus, improving retention.

But with this growth comes other challenges, like ensuring safe interactions. So, if you want to understand why cybersecurity is a serious concern in this industry, keep reading.

The rising number of attacks

Several studies agree that the number of cyberattacks targeting online gambling platforms is rapidly increasing. And as already note, the number of active online players could actually continue expanding. This means more personal information will be available, making the industry a prime target for cybercriminals.

In fact, just recently, in 2023, about 70% of companies confirmed experiencing security incidents. Looking at what things have been like for the past few years, Centripetal suggests that cybersecurity incidents have increased by about 40%.

Malicious persons always explore technical and resource vulnerabilities through different tactics to compromise customer data. Let’s look at a few of them.

Common attacks in the sector

Did you know that, according to Security Boulevard, the broader gaming industry is the most affected by DDoS attacks, experiencing about 34% of all attacks? And according to other reports, these attacks have doubled in occurrence and now account for about a fourth of all the sector’s cyberattacks. DDoS attacks often work by paralyzing a website’s operation by flooding it with malicious traffic.

Ransomware incidents are another common occurrence. They often involve hackers encrypting critical systems and demanding payments to release them. Ransomware is typically introduced through various methods such as phishing emails, malicious links or software vulnerabilities.

Once inside, the malware encrypts files or locks the system to prevent access, after which the attacker presents a message demanding a ransom payment to decrypt it. To get ahead of this, consider regular backup protocols and collaborations with security companies to help with early detection and threat monitoring.

And, of course, we can’t fail to mention phishing attacks, which have also become very prevalent in the sector. Actually, according to experts, about 80% of cyber incidents in this industry arise from phishing attacks.

Here, attackers pose as legitimate entities and trick individuals into revealing personal information or installing malware. This is usually done through deceptive emails, text messages or websites that appear to be from trusted sources.

Security has become a competitive advantage

A company that turns a blind eye towards these trends is only setting itself up for failure. Mark you: Modern customers have become more aware and often inspect platforms to ensure security compliance.

Looking at the statistics, studies claim that 85% are working hard to increase efforts to protect their online privacy. So, ignoring online safety might give a wrong impression to these security-conscious individuals and discourage exploration. It’s even serious now that, according to Termly, three-quarters of consumers won’t purchase from a brand they don’t trust with their data.

Plus, retaining players after a security breach is not a walk in the park because a good number of them will be less likely to transact with you again. According to Solutions4iT, you may lose up to 75%. On top of that, Cybersecurity Dive suggests that you may affect the trust of up to 58%.

With acquiring new casino players becoming more challenging, these are not statistics to ignore. Plus, the costs of recovering from security incidents can be quite hefty. According to IBM, you may need at least $4.88 million. Now that operating costs are rising daily, you want to adopt more secure measures that will help avoid such costs and improve your appeal to security-conscious players.

Take two-factor authentication (2FA), for instance. This infrastructure alone can protect you from up to 99.9% of targeted attacks and 96% of phishing attacks. It works by requiring users to provide two separate forms of identification to access a resource or account.

After a user logs in with their username and password (the first factor), they are prompted to provide a second form of identification. This second factor is typically a code sent to a trusted device (like a phone or email) or a biometric scan (like a fingerprint). That way, even if a hacker gets their password, they will still need access to the second factor login, making it harder for them to gain unauthorized access to an account.

What is our final word?

As you can see, cybersecurity has actually become a survival issue in the casino industry. Between valuable user data, changing cyber threats and the need to maintain player trust, companies have to work hard to stay ahead of the game.

Especially now that modern players often inspect platforms before engaging, you don’t want to imagine the pain of missing out just because your platform appears security-inconsistent. As such, implementing things like 2FA can really be beneficial.