CA Security has released a new report exposing the risk of identity theft for Gamers. Online games often have their own form of virtual money, which can equate to real cash. This puts online gamers at risk, as online gaming accounts/identities will become as profitable as a real bank account.

The report indicates that online gaming is becoming as risky as online banking, and that identity theft and malware exploits are going to be increasing in this area. The second most common malware of 2007 was designed to steal gaming passwords. Character identities and virtual money are sold in underground websites - websites that rival the same marketplace behaviors as standard identity theft rings.

Social networks, of which gaming sites are included alongside others such as Facebook and MySpace, are large security risks because of their design. They are subject to the same weaknesses as websites, but with greater ease. Malicious code can easily be inserted into web pages - which any user can create - and the interconnectedness of social networking sites will spread it very quickly.

The report recommends, in addition to standard security measures, to set up your personal firewall for safer online gaming, use an anti-phishing toolbar, and to avoid use of peer-to-peer networks.

You can download the full report, which covers Internet Threats of various sorts, here [PDF].

Via Smarthouse Tags: id theft, identity theft, online gaming, online gamers, online games, online security, computer security, identity security