One of the major revelations from this survey is that two thirds of respondents got hacked while playing their favorite video games. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Xbox gamers may have a higher likelihood for getting hacked than might have been the case otherwise.
86% of them are at risk of hacking, and 76% have already become victims of phishing scams that have resulted in them losing access to their gaming accounts. That might make seem Xbox seem like an unsafe gaming device, but this has more to do with unsafe practices from Xbox gamers rather than any inherent flaws in the product itself.
Meanwhile, PlayStation gamers seem to be having an easier time of it. 37% of them reported that they never got hacked, with 9% saying they got hacked once, 22% reporting two to three hacks, 18% reporting four to five, and 13% stating that they have been hacked six or more times.
Nintendo is an even safer gaming console by this metric. 40% of Nintendo gamers have not been hacked a single time. It turns out that PC is the safest gaming console of all, with as many as 46% of PC gamers never having been hacked while playing a video game.
53% of gamers who were hacked during their gaming session lost their email data. 48% ended up having their phone numbers leaked, 45% lost extremely sensitive payment data that could cause financial losses, and 43% lost access to their financial accounts entirely. Social media accounts were lost in 36% of cases, and 30% of users reported that their passwords ended up in the wrong hands.
There is also a more concrete financial aspect to these hacks that is worth keeping in mind. The average amount lost during a midgame hack was around $330. One interesting thing to mention here is that PC gamers lose the highest amounts of cash on average, hovering at around the $374 mark. Mobile gamers, 34% of whom never get hacked, lose $359 on average. This is followed by PlayStation with $321, Nintendo with $310 and Xbox with $298.
That indicates a pattern wherein platforms that are more susceptible to hacks have a lower average financial loss. This may be due to the larger number of cyber attacks that are conducted. If a hacker manages to break through PC defenses, they are likely going to go for a larger payout. Xbox hacks are so commonplace that hackers are fine with smaller amounts, although the total amount will still be staggeringly large if viewed in aggregate so the high risk is still something to consider.
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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World
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