Leveling the Playing Field: The fight against hacking in online gaming
Remember the thrill of stealthily peering around pockmarked concrete walls checking for enemy combatants lurking in the courtyard? That all changed with hacks like the infamous memory modification tool XQZ developed for Counter-Strike. With the tool, cheating players robbed legitimate users of hours of honest effort. And a groundbreaking video game established a legacy not only for the team play culture it helped create, but also the rampant cheating, hacking, and other disruptive behavior which has become endemic to online gaming.
Unfortunately, the thrill of honest competition isn’t all that game hacks are stealing anymore, but also and more alarmingly, customer paid accounts, personal user data, intellectual property, and game maker revenue.
The Numbers are Alarming
According to data from South Korea based online security company, AhnLab, which specializes in game security and protection, an increasing trend in the number of game hacking tools, started in 2008, has grown even more dramatically in 2009 and 2010.
As of December 2010, game hacking tools were up 91% from the same time in 2009, specifically from 2,225 to 4,268 tools.
|
Memory Manipulation |
Autoplay |
Packet Manipulation |
File Manipulation |
Speed Hack |
Others |
Total |
|
2709 |
1358 |
30 |
65 |
40 |
66 |
4268 |
Global Statistics, AhnLab, December 2010
Among the different types of tools, memory manipulation in particular skyrocketed, recording a 154% increase from the previous year, or from 1,063 to 2,709 tools. AhnLab cites several factors behind the numbers including interestingly the game market in China. As a massive population delves into different genre games, memory manipulation is becoming the tool of choice as it requires less time and cost to execute.
In North America, the vast majority of memory hacking occurs with FPS genre games, which are extremely popular on the continent. As memory hacking techniques become more technically advanced, there is also the concern that the technique will spread to other areas such as Internet transactions and malware.
Even though many game companies with support from the government have tried to prevent the spread of AutoPlay through legal measures, the effort has had limited success. The number of AutoPlay incidents reported in 2010 was 1358, up 95% from 694 in 2009. The above legal measures have provided only temporary relief, and serious prevention technology is cited as a critical need by many industry watchers.
Trend Prediction for 2011
The overseas video game market is expected to grow 17% in 2011 to reach USD $18.03 billion. Due to its commercialization, the hacking market will also become larger as the online game market grows, with most attacks happening in Asia, North America, and Europe -- 70 percent of the global online game market.
Another major trend in 2011 is expected to be the spread of new game platforms such as Social Network Games (SNGs), mobile games and web games. As relatively insecure new platforms, there is the prediction that hacking attempts could explode in this arena.
Finally, with the number of users who use a 64-bit OS increasing and more games being developed that support this standard, new hack tools are already being developed and tested by attackers worldwide.
What to Do
Due to the characteristics of online games, where the same game is serviced on a global basis, the hacking tools that are used in a single country can be used in other countries as well. Therefore, a global hacking response system is more necessary than ever before
To effectively respond to increased hacking attempts, the need for a comprehensive monitoring system that can track and allow/block hacking attempts according to the game company’s policy is critical. Now online game security must provide for not only game client protection functions, but also a monitoring system that tracks hacking attempts into servers. In addition, the development of an integrated hacking response system that restrains users based on evident hacking attempts will be the next step in online game security.
AhnLab HackShield: Providing Advanced Game Protection
AhnLab HackShield is an intelligent real-time hacking detection and blocking solution designed specifically for online gamers. Recording a 374% growth in sales worldwide, HackShield is evidence that game hacking is a serious issue, but not without viable solutions.
Built with AhnLab's industry-leading anti-hacking technologies to keep systems safe and hack-free, HackShield is considered provides superior game protection with features including: a heuristic engine-based reaction process; regularly executed audits for game client file and memory counterfeiting; auto-mouse prevention; speed hack blocking and more.
AhnLab HackShield is currently used in over 16 countries and more than 159 online games around the world including in leading titles like Cartrider, Dungeon Fighter Online, Maple Story, Silkroad Online, Ragnarok and Counterstrike online
