Tag Archives: games

eSports: Avira FIFA17 Contest with 2000€ Prize Pool – Join Now!

It’s been some time since we’ve last talked about eSports, but a good thing takes time. What is eSports? Now: For those of you who don’t know what eSports is, let me explain. eSports is short for ‘electronic sports’ and is the term for competitive video gaming. It’s exactly what you probably think it is […]

The post eSports: Avira FIFA17 Contest with 2000€ Prize Pool – Join Now! appeared first on Avira Blog.

Avira, time2win and eSports … it’s time to win!

I believe we’ve mentioned a couple of times that we have some very compassionate gamers here at Avira, which is why we started Avira Gaming – as you well know. Now we are going one step further and are happy to announce our partnership with time2win, a brand new eSports platform.

The post Avira, time2win and eSports … it’s time to win! appeared first on Avira Blog.

Gamers can have a big impact on cybersecurity

Video games are very big business. The industry was calculated at $22.41 billion in the U.S. alone, by the researchers at NPD Group in 2014.

The insatiable appetite for games and resulting economic impact of gamers has been credited with driving major tech industry advancements, from better graphics that require ever-higher processor speed to driving down costs of pricey tech innovations making it more accessible in all markets.

Perhaps now is time for gamers and game developers to play a role in helping to shape cybersecurity.

New research shows concerns about cybersecurity among gamers and that the majority of gamers lack confidence in game developers’ ability to ensure their security. According to a new study by PlayFab, the back-end services provider for games, 83% of gamers believe that game developers should be responsible for securing a player’s personal data – though fewer than 40% said they currently feel confident with the safeguards.

When asked about the security of their game accounts and experiences, more than 80% ranked either personally identifiable or financial related information as the most important thing to protect. The concern is not surprising, considering high profile data security breaches that have taken place across the industry, including the huge hack of the Sony PlayStation Network, when hackers stole identity information for up to 77 million players.

“These survey results underscore both the opportunity for game developers to improve trust by focusing on security measures, and the importance that they do so to safeguard an audience that relies on them,” noted James Gwertzman, co-founder and CEO of PlayFab.

Meanwhile, gamers are also being enlisted to help the cybersecurity industry fight cybercrime – by doing what they do best.

In the UK, gamers are being recruited to fill the cybersecurity skills gap as part of the Cybersecurity Challenge UK, a government and industry-backed program designed to promote cybersecurity as a profession.

As part of the effort, the UK government has launched a new 3D video game platform, a browser-based massively multiplayer online game (MMO), where members of the general public of all ages and abilities are invited to participate and crack codes in cybersecurity games.

Stephanie Daman, the CEO of the Cybersecurity Challenge UK recently told the tech website Motherboard, “…a lot of people who are very good at cybersecurity are also gamers.” She identified a convergence of traits that make gamers good security professionals, “It’s that urge to find out how something works, to pursue a trail, to get to the end, to see what’s there.”

If we can transfer gamers concerns around cybersecurity and apply their skills to protect our data, everyone wins.

Game on.

Steam Account Security Issue Got Fixed

Wow, that sentence sounds rather boring, right? Well, let’s elaborate a bit. If you are an avid PC gamer you most like know Steam, and if you are into playing (or watching) gamers compete in Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBAs), you also might have noticed that some of the more famous DotA 2 players got their accounts stolen.  Of course their accounts were not the only ones affected, but definitely the most noticeable ones.

What happened is that Steam apparently had a rather big loophole in its system: One could access another account with only the username – and it was as simple as eating pie. Just take a look at the video below and be amazed:

The issue is now fixed, after Valve learned of it on July 25th – so if you are a gamer with a lot of games in your steam library (or a professional DotA/CS:GO player) you can relax.

According to Kotaku, Valve release a statement to those affected:

“To protect users, we are resetting passwords on accounts with suspicious password changes during that period or may have otherwise been affected. Relevant users will receive an email with a new password. Once that email is received, it is recommended that users login to their account via the Steam client and set a new password. 

Please note that while an account password was potentially modified during this period the password itself was not revealed. Also, if Steam Guard was enabled, the account was protected from unauthorized logins even if the password was modified.

 We apologize for any inconvenience.”

The post Steam Account Security Issue Got Fixed appeared first on Avira Blog.