Industry analysts have discovered that many of the online casino accounts set up by customers were hacked because of lame passwords.
Obvious Targets
Online casinos enjoyed a spike in business after brick-and-mortar casinos were closed during the pandemic. This brought in millions of new online gambling customers who each set up an account to win real money at these casinos.
However, with the increase in customers comes an increase in deposits, profits, and online banking. And since the online gaming industry is a lucrative one, the billions of dollars flowing through digital outlets is an obvious target for hackers and fraudsters.
Online casino accounts aren’t the only ones being targeted. Taxi firms and grocers saw an increase in online account takeovers. After COVID-19 forced millions to stay at home, the number of online shopping accounts also increased.
According to the fraud detection firm Ravelin, taxi firms face an average of 65 account attacks per year, online gambling firms averaged 60, and grocers fell in third place at 53.
Lame Passwords
The digital goods sector requires customers to set up accounts to access and use the goods and services. Unfortunately, many of the new users fall into the lazy habit of choosing lame passwords to set up their accounts.
Of the hacked accounts revealed by fraud firms, the worst passwords customers used were ‘12345’ and ‘123456,’ with the ultra-obvious ‘password’ rearing its ugly head as well.
These passwords can easily be guessed in seconds by hackers and fraudsters with only basic tools. Once the scammer has gained access to customer usernames, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out the most obvious passwords. And the problem becomes worse when the same customers use the same passwords across multiple platforms.
Rather than rolling out the red carpet for hackers, online gamblers should use a strong password, with 8 or more characters and a combination of upper- and lower-case letters and a number or two. And while you’re at it, throw in a special character (underscore, asterisk, etc.).
Using these simple techniques is the easiest way to avoid having your account hacked and emptied by unscrupulous individuals. Using a secure password storage app is also recommended because it generates those random passwords that resemble gibberish – then stores them securely for you so you don’t have to remember them.
And last but not least, secure your accounts by changing the passwords several times per year.
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