Following the recent leakage revealing how hyper-popular game Roblox moderates content, cybersecurity experts from antivirus provider Kaspersky has shared a few insights on what cyber threats can harm users, and especially children, in the online gaming space and how these users can protect themselves.
The leaked documents give insight into the targeting of children by predators on the platform and how the platform attempts to fight child grooming.
Additionally, one issue identified in the documents is that although Roblox’s systems scan 100 percent of submitted abuse reports, only around 10 percent of those are actionable. This suggests that even on a gaming platform, where content is moderated, there remain a large number of risks for children when they game online.
Roblox is an online gaming platform that allows users to create their own game simulations and virtual locations, where they can play in different locations themselves or invite other users. There are both harmless and very popular locations, where users can choose a pet and take care of it or go through an obstacle course with their characters. The genres of such games are almost unlimited and the number of daily active users was 50 million by the end of 2021, most of which were school-aged children.
However, in the game world they may also meet fraudsters, who can either be members of the selected playthrough or even be its authors.
Threats from them can come both inside the game world – they often show aggression, deception or intimidation. For example, the theme of the Roblox game world might be used to create phishing resources in order to steal login and password from the account and further withdraw funds from the victim; or under the guise of in-game currency (Robux) users can be offered to register with a real name or pay for a “no-lose lottery,” participation in which will bring nothing but loss of money.
Here are 7 safety rules to help not only protect your data but also protect your little ones who are gaming online:
“Although Roblox has a system of content moderation, you should not rely on it completely. It can be especially dangerous for school children, who due to their lack of experience may not be aware of many cybersecurity rules,” comments Andrey Sidenko, Lead web content analyst at Kaspersky.
Edited by Luis Monzon
Follow Luis Monzon on Twitter
Follow IT News Africa on Twitter
Log in to leave a comment
Podcast by IT News Africa
This week Luis Monzon chats with Stephen Osler, co-founder and business development director of South African cybersecurity firm Nclose.
Stephen and Luis talk about cybersecurity in the public sector with a focus on African organisations, and the risks, challenges and weaknesses found therein.
Now, let’s take a DIP!
WhatsApp on Tuesday announced a series of new privacy changes coming to the…
According to recent data, Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to be the fastest-…
African cable system firm SEACOM and British Telecommunications (BT) today…
Airtel Africa, one of Africa’s largest telecom groups with a presence in 14…
Visa has today announced the launch of a grant towards the African Women Im…