Baccarat Online Casino Security Risks You Should Know
Any business that operates online is at risk of cyberattacks, and online casinos are no exception. At any moment, your casino’s online baccarat software for igaming websites and players could be targeted by malicious actors. These actors can do all sorts of nasty things, including stealing data or player earnings, or crippling your casino. In this article, we’ll take a look at some common online baccarat software for gaming website security issues, and how your company can select a suitable software provider with robust security.
Table of Contents
- Who Are the Hackers?
- Who Gets Targeted?
- Why Do Malicious Actors Target Online Casinos?
- How Do Hackers Do It?
4.1 DDOS Attacks
4.2 Port Scanning
4.3 Ransomware
4.4 Social Engineering - Choosing a Safe Provider
Who Are the Hackers?
There is no singular stereotype of a malicious actor that targets online casinos. They aren’t just greasy, unwashed individuals hiding in their rooms, but can also be large criminal enterprises running hundreds of operations at once, or anything in between.
Who Gets Targeted?
While most people may think these hackers only go after big casinos for a huge payday, there’s no guarantee smaller ones won’t be targeted either. After all, smaller companies may have less robust security protocols and be easier to infiltrate, especially if the hackers are less experienced. Regardless of whether your casino is a small-time operator or some multi-million dollar enterprise, it’s important to be vigilant.
Why Do Malicious Actors Target Online Casinos?
So why do malicious actors do it?
The most common reason when it comes to online casinos, of course, is money. Lots of money changes hands in iGaming, and that can be tempting for greedy thieves.
Sometimes, they also attack online casinos to get player information, which they can then use for identity theft or scamming others.
How Do Hackers Do It?
There are many different ways your company’s baccarat software for iGaming websites can be targeted and subverted. Because of the variety of tactics unscrupulous individuals use, and because they can target you from anywhere in the world, you need to be aware of some common types of cyberattacks.
DDOS Attacks
DDOS is a short form that means distributed denial of service. DDOS attacks involve hackers targeting a server with their own computer network, to overload the server with too many connections at once. In this case, the target would be your online baccarat software for iGaming websites. These networks can comprise hundreds or even thousands of computers! With so many incoming connection requests, the baccarat site gets overwhelmed, slows down, and eventually crashes.
DDOS attacks are one of the oldest cyberattack types, but that doesn’t mean they are any less effective. They are still a major issue even today.
In 2023, over 5.2 million DDoS attacks were countered by Cloudflare. These DDOS attacks had more than 26 trillion requests involved!
Port Scanning
Another very old but still effective attack technique is port scanning. Think of a ‘port’ as an opening your company’s baccarat software for iGaming websites needs to use to communicate with other software, sending important messages like “Player has made a payment”, or “Cheating detected.” While some important ports should always be kept open, others should not.
Vulnerability to these attacks comes most often from improper configuration. When someone launches a new site, many of the services will begin with fully open ports and default passwords. If these are not changed, it is easy for a hacker to gain access to various features. If the vulnerabilities are bad enough, attackers may even gain “root access” which allows them total control.
When your company site gets hijacked by these attackers, they have free rein to do whatever they want. Any player info is theirs to use or misuse, or even sell for profit!
Ransomware
And speaking of profit, one very dangerous form of attack for your casino is ransomware.
Think of it as a thief somehow slipping into your house while you’re not in, and then changing all the locks to lock you out. If you want to get back in, you have to pay them lots of money.
This attack is done by the attacker inserting a program onto your casino’s network or server through whatever means. This can be due to employees misclicking malicious emails, or possibly even a disgruntled worker sabotaging your company, or the aforementioned port scanning.
Once the program is on your network, it encrypts your baccarat game files, as well as other files. This means they are locked and cannot be used. Only the hacker has the key to decode them. The hacker will likely ask for millions of dollars as a ransom before undoing the locks.
In fact, just last year two massive casino companies, MGM Resorts and Caesars, were both targeted by ransomware within weeks of each other. It caused massive havoc, with guests left to wait for hours, unable to play or withdraw their earnings.
Social Engineering
Last on this list, we have arguably the simplest but most dangerous attack. It basically involves the hackers impersonating others (like bosses or loved ones) and contacting your employees or players to give up sensitive information which includes passwords.
That might sound easy to defeat, but it’s not. No matter how robust a security system your company has, the human element is always the weakest link. 98% of cyberattacks use social engineering in combination with other techniques to infiltrate systems. Even Google and Facebook fell victim to a social engineering syndicate, losing more than $100 million from 2013 to 2015.
Social engineering can also happen through methods like leaving USB drives or other infected hardware for your company’s employees to find and use. Employees are naturally curious, and when they do use the tainted hardware, hackers have a backdoor into the system.
Choosing a Safe Provider
To avoid the risk of encountering these issues, it’s important for your casino company to select the right provider. The right provider is one that has robust security protocols like proper vetting of open ports in their software, as well as other software solutions including load balancers for DDOS. When choosing a provider for your baccarat software for iGaming websites, evaluate the provider thoroughly before making a decision. There are numerous reliable providers, depending on the solution your casino needs, including companies like Pragmatic Play, and of course, the trustworthy Nautilus Games.
