Published: October 15, 2020 on our newsletter Security Fraud News & Alerts Newsletter.
In September, several media outlets reported an alleged data breach affecting more than 500,000 online gaming accounts belonging to Activision customers. The reports, which Activision has since said are inaccurate, claimed that Call of Duty players’ credentials had been leaked.
Although Activision claims the reports are untrue, it’s not untrue that gamers and their accounts are always in the hackers’ crosshairs and should be well protected with a strong password. This means making sure they all have at least eight characters, include upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters. They should not be easy to guess or include personal information. They also should always be unique to a given website or account. If mutli-factor or two-factor authentication is available, make sure to activate it for added security.
Other advice includes unlinking Battlenet, PSN, Xbox, and any other linked accounts for added protection. Also, remove saved payment details from the account.
Reports claim that the hackers are creating over 1,000 new accounts every ten minutes using stolen credentials and making the accounts unrecoverable. They also may be making the account information public. If you haven’t changed your password since September 20, it’s more important than ever to take a minute and do it now.
Password Protection
Change passwords immediately after finding your account may be exposed in a data breach.
Use strong and unique passwords for each account and change them regularly. Include letters, numbers, and special characters.
Use two-factor (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA) when available, as they provide additional layers of security when logging-in.
Keep passwords to yourself and don’t share them.
Be aware if of others watching when you type a password and always logout, and close the browser window if applicable when done.
Check password strength, if a website offers a strength analyzer when creating an account.
Avoid using passwords with unsecured Wi-Fi as they can be intercepted and stolen.
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