The igaming industry has never been more vulnerable to the threat of cyberattacks. With incidents rising by a reported 1,000% annually, and each breach costing operators on average £3.1m, companies are suffering both financial and reputational damage. Danny Hook, Director of Enterprise services at leading telecommunications service provider Gibtelecom, believes his company has the answer to protecting both the operators and their players.
Gambling companies’ fight against cyberattacks
A 2022 report from cybersecurity firm Imperva showed 25% of all igaming sites suffered a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack in June of that year alone, coinciding with major sporting events like Wimbledon and golf’s US Open. Unfortunately for operators, this isn’t uncommon with attacks regularly occurring during big sporting events with the hope of causing maximum damage.
In September 2022, PokerStars, the largest online poker site in the world, was hit by a huge DDoS attack. Hackers flooded its server with requests, causing multiple sites to crash on a Sunday – its busiest day – resulting in the cancellation of several large poker tournaments.
This isn’t the only time a well-known gambling company has suffered at the hands of hackers. Between November 2022 and May 2023 there were three high-profile breaches, one of which involved US sport betting giant DraftKings.