COMMENTARY: The gaming industry has grown significantly over the past few years, even earning its own World Cup featuring top teams and players from around the globe. However, with its increasing popularity, the industry has also seen a rise in vulnerabilities, mainly Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
The substantial financial value of the gaming sector and the desire to disrupt competitors make it a prime target for threat actors, especially during professional tournaments. Given these evolving DDoS threats in gaming, how can operators craft better response strategies to protect gameplay?
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Successful DDoS protection requires a holistic approach that begins with understanding the nature of the threat.
Gamers have been among the most frequently targeted groups for DDoS attacks for years. Look at recent incidents with popular games, Minecraft, World of Warcraft and Grand Theft Auto. The attacks continue on Final Fantasy 14 servers, in addition to match disruptions for the professional League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK).
Why are we seeing all these attacks?
For one, the accessibility of DDoS-for-hire services has made it much easier for attackers to carry out their exploits, allowing bad actors to launch attacks at a trivial cost. DDoS attacks, with their disruptive nature and ability to thwart opponents’ gameplay, are here to stay. Knowing how to remediate these attacks has become the new battleground in the fight against cyber threats.
The gaming industry’s substantial financial value and the goal of disrupting competitors make it vulnerable to DDoS attacks. These attacks, often occurring during online gaming tournaments, disrupt the gaming experience and threaten the integrity of digital platforms. Robust cybersecurity measures are crucial to address these threats.
How Esports leagues can improve their security posture
Given the emerging threats to professional gameplay, it’s imperative that a collaborative effort be undertaken by Esports companies, cybersecurity experts, and network operators to maintain a secure and equitable gaming environment. This collaboration has become increasingly vital as attackers devise novel ways to disrupt tournaments and Esports matches. The current reality demands a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy involving advanced protection measures, enhanced operator awareness, and industrywide collaboration to counter escalating threats.
Preventative measures should include: hardening any potential targets; proactively identifying and blocking DDoS initiation traffic and command and control (CnC) communications; and using source address validation (SAV) to prevent spoofed traffic.
As attacks evolve, defense strategies must adapt accordingly. A robust defense strategy should incorporate real-time threat intelligence tools that use machine learning (ML) to help instantly identify known DDoS attack vectors, sources, and behavioral patterns.
This type of intelligence acts as an early warning system to allow for much faster threat mitigation. These solutions can also detect zero-minute attacks and changes to attack vectors. Upon detection and classification, they would immediately understand how to remediate and selectively block specific attacks. Enhanced visibility tools with actionable threat intelligence that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) for automated remediation of attack vectors are crucial for security teams to adapt.
As Esports tournaments become more organized and expand globally, the sophistication of DDoS attacks in taking down gameplay has only increased. Consequently, Esports businesses must expand beyond a prevention-oriented approach to include an early detection and response strategy. This strategy should include both human and technological elements of the security ecosystem to be genuinely effective.
While it’s an ongoing battle, teams will still face threats because malicious actors will find new ways to exploit emerging technologies to suit their needs. That’s why having the ability to instantly detect, investigate, and remediate malicious behavior before cybercriminals strike has become more vital than ever. The inevitability of a future DDoS attack cannot be denied, but with the proper protections in place, security teams can stay one step ahead of cybercriminals, thwarting their attempts to compromise the integrity of Esports tournaments.
Gary Sockrider, director, security solutions, NETSCOUT
SC Media Perspectives columns are written by a trusted community of SC Media cybersecurity subject matter experts. Each contribution has a goal of bringing a unique voice to important cybersecurity topics. Content strives to be of the highest quality, objective and non-commercial.
