EGBA launches cyber security expert group

The new EGBA group aims to share information to track and resolve cyber security incidents in the gaming sector.

Belgium.- The European Gaming and Betting Association has created a new expert group on cyber security to facilitate information sharing on cyber threats and attacks among its members and to promote cooperation to track and resolve incidents and identify and solve security vulnerabilities.

The group will comprise cyber security experts from EGBA member operators, with a Memorandum of Understanding to allow for data sharing between the different operators. Participation will be open to all members. The group will also seek to research and implement best practices on cyber security.

EGBA secretary general Maarten Haijer said: “We have launched this expert group to encourage and establish a much-needed platform for cross-industry cooperation on cybersecurity issues.

“Cyber criminals are increasingly determined and sophisticated in their efforts to try to hack into gambling websites to steal customer data and money. Cyber threats tend to be cross-border in nature, affect operators in the same ways, and are a common threat to the industry.

“That’s why it is crucially important that operators work closer together to strengthen cyber security protocols and procedures, find common solutions to the latest threats and security vulnerabilities, and implement the highest security standards.”

As examples of cyber security threats that could affect the betting and gaming sector, the EGBA listed distributed denial-of-service (DDoSs) attacks, which use artificial traffic to bombard a website and slow it down, and account takeovers (ATO), where bots mimic legitimate login activity to access player accounts.

It also mentioned odds and price scraping, in which bots scrape odds from multiple websites to make betting decisions; credit card fraud and promotion abuse where bots are used for mass account creation to use promotional offers.

The EGBA said cyber security threats tended to increase during major sporting events, with a 96% year-on-year rise in attacks during Euro 2020, particularly targeting British and German sites.

The EGBA has been supporting the European Union’s plan for a harmonised European Digital Identity (E-ID). The digital ID system will allow EU citizens to guard a range of data, such as name, date of birth, bank account numbers, driving licences and proof of Covid-19 vaccination status in a single electronic wallet.

The EGBA has long pushed for more standardised regulation of consumer protection rules across the European Union, noting the great disparity in online gambling regulation across the bloc.

Focusgn