Business is booming: How online gaming fuels cybercrime

The quest to get ahead in games by buying virtual currency is funding elaborate cybercriminal operations, researchers claim. Gaming has come a long way in the last decade. Once, the graphics of Final Fantasy 7 were the pinnacle of achievement in the industry; and now, gaming has spread from PCs to consoles and mobile devices, connects players worldwide and has led to a booming economy in currency and virtual items. However, as gaming systems such as Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), including World of Warcraft and League of Legends have increased in popularity, there are those who would exploit these trends for their own benefit. On Tuesday, researchers from Trend Micro released a new report investigating how online gaming can be exploited to fuel cybercrime.