According to Nielsen in the US, online gaming accounts for 10.2% of time spent on the Web,  says Sergey Golovanov, Malware Expert at Kaspersky Lab.

“Such a statistic certainly provides proof to the fact the online gaming is a growing industry that, in our experience, turns over impressive revenues each year.

The world of online gaming moves very quickly across countries each year new and exciting games are released and the army of players continues to develop.

And as with any online action that shows high activity and growth, the online gaming world has become an attractive one to cybercriminals evident by the recent hack of a popular gaming console which proved detrimental.”

In its May 2011 spam report, Kaspersky reported that 4.67% of all phishing emails that occurred were intended to steal passwords for the popular free online game RuneScape.

As a result, this platform made its debut in the top 10, straight in at number 3 way ahead of Warcraft which is the most popular online game in the world.

And this is just one example.

Kaspersky Lab has noticed that online games nowadays are of more interest to cybercriminals than social networking sites such as Facebook which is certainly a startling realisation that the company emphasises requires action.

“Despite this, often consumed by the excitement of the game itself, many online gamers do not realise the crucial importance of effective security around gaming.

And it is with this exact premise in mind that Kaspersky Lab continues to support the rAge expo as it is a well respected technology event that provides the perfect platform to engage.

With gamers to educate and offer the insight needed to ensure a safe and uninterrupted gaming experience,” says Golovanov.

“Security education across industries remains a key focus for Kaspersky Lab. We have identified the gaming industry as a sector that remains fruitful among cybercriminals and are proud to be a part of this event.

As it allows us the opportunity to educate and make an important and beneficial difference to the world of online gaming,” concludes Golovanov.

The Norton Cybercrime Report 2011 also reveals that 10 percent of adults online have experienced cybercrime on their mobile phone. “The Symantec Internet Security Threat Report (vol. 16) reports that there were 42 percent more mobile vulnerabilities in 2010 compared to 2009 – a sign that cybercriminals are starting to focus their efforts on the mobile space”.

According to a recent report on cybercrime, more than two-thirds of online adults (69 percent) have been a victim of cybercrime at some stage in their lifetime. “Every second 14 adults become a victim of cybercrime, resulting in more than 1 million cybercrime victims every day,” IT security company Symantec’s Norton writes in a release posted on its official website.

Globally, the most common and most preventable  type of cybercrime is computer viruses and malware with 54 percent of respondents saying they have experienced them in their lifetime. Viruses are followed by online scams (11 percent) and phishing messages (10 percent).

The number of reported new mobile operating system vulnerabilities increased from 115 in 2009 to 163 in 2010, it writes, adding that increased social networking and a lack of protection are likely to be some of the main culprits behind the growing number of cybercrime victims. The study identifies men between 18 and 31 years of age who access the Internet from their mobile phone as more likely victims in this group, as four in five (80 percent) have fallen prey to cybercrime in their lifetime.

Earlier this year, the Symantec Internet Security Threat Report (vol. 16) found more than 286 million unique variations of malicious software (malware) compared to the 240 million reported in 2009, representing a 19 percent increase. “There is a serious disconnect in how people view the threat of cybercrime,” said Adam Palmer, Norton’s leading cybersecurity advisor, as quoted in the release.

Forty-one percent of adults indicated that they don’t have an up-to-date security software suite to protect their personal information online,” it says, adding that less than half of them review credit card statements regularly for fraud (47 percent), and 61 percent don’t use complex passwords or change them regularly.
Among those who access the Internet via their mobile phone, only 16 percent install the most up-to-date mobile security.

Cybercrime is much more prevalent than people realize. Over the past 12 months, three times as many adults surveyed have suffered from online crime versus offline crime, yet less than one-third of respondents think they are more likely to become a victim of cybercrime than physical world crime in the next year,” Palmer added.

The disconnect between awareness and action is further illustrated by the fact that while 74 percent of respondents say they are always aware of cybercrime, many are not taking the necessary precautions.