For gamers, protecting your privacy requires a holistic approach to security, especially because you’re exposed to a variety of risks. As a gamer, you likely have a lot of cross-platform accounts, wherein your personal and financial information is linked.
With the rise of artificial intelligence, the average time it takes to brute force attack passwords has shortened tremendously. In 2023, Hive Systems claims that hackers can obtain your password almost instantly, even with numbers, upper and lower case letters, and symbols. Because of this, it’s even more important to create strong passwords or use a password manager. Additionally, you should enable two-factor authentication (2FA) when possible.
Next, when playing new games, you may need to register for accounts. If possible, you can create a separate email for gaming-specific accounts, so you’ll have less to worry about if it’s compromised. Although some questions, such as your birthday, may be necessary to be able to prevent children from accessing mature rated content, things like your complete address or credit card information, may not.
Lastly, if you play mobile games, you should also regularly review the app permissions on your mobile phone. In some cases, some game developers will try to request information or data that isn’t always necessary for gameplay. Often, this includes access to your files, photos, and even location. In this case, there’s very little incentive for you to share it, so you might as well opt out.
