The gaming industry has become increasingly prone to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. In fact, it’s estimated that the gaming industry made up nearly 36 percent of all DDoS attack targets in 2019.
Therefore, whether you’re a casual or competitive gamer, you need to be more cautious than ever when partaking in online gaming. These attacks can not only disrupt your gaming experience but could put your information at risk, too.
Why Gamers Are Being Targeted
There are several reasons why the gaming industry is seeing more frequent instances of DDoS attacks. First, it has become easier than ever for hackers to carry out these attacks in gaming environments. Specifically, hackers have discovered that they can utilize Internet of Things (IoT) devices to create botnets and carry out large and devastating DDoS attacks. These devices typically lack proper security measures, making them an easy target for corruption.
Combine the ease of carrying out these attacks (even for relatively inexperienced hackers) with the competitive nature of the gaming industry, and it becomes clear why online games are targeted frequently. Some competitive gamers will even seek out DDoS-for-hire services to take down their competition in an effort to win.
Understanding Signs of a DDoS Attack
If you engage in any kind of online gameplay, it’s important to understand the signs of DDoS attacks so that you can act quickly. With an online gaming DDoS attack, the most common indicator is a sudden disruption in your connection. Of course, a network problem can be something as simple and innocuous as an outage at your internet service provider (ISP) or an issue with your modem or router. However, if you’re still experiencing network problems after you’ve reset your modem, restarted your computer, and contacted your ISP to confirm that there is no outage, there’s a good chance that you’ve fallen victim to a DDoS attack. If this is the case, you’ll want to take measures to reset your IP address or even request a new one. Otherwise, your information could be at risk.
The Benefits of a Dedicated Gaming Server
There are plenty of proactive measures you can take to reduce your risk of falling victim to a gaming DDoS attack, starting with using antivirus software or a firewall on your gaming computer. Of course, these can only do so much to protect you, especially from an experienced hacker.
If you’re serious about your online gaming experience, consider making the switch to a dedicated gaming server. A dedicated server provides unrivaled security and saves you from sharing resources over your home Wi-Fi network, resulting in less latency and a better gaming experience.
Looking for a dedicated hosting company that takes DDoS protection seriously? ReliableSite offers free standard DDoS protection with every dedicated server hosting plan. You also have the option to purchase additional protection as needed. Reach out to the ReliableSite team to get started!