Any online gaming site has to work hard to keep game servers safe from DDoS attacks and hackers. As the number of gamers increases, so does the number of hackers who want to ruin your gaming experience. When you rent a game server, ensuring performance and reliability is crucial, especially when facing threats like DDoS attacks and hacks.
Protecting your investment with the best price, custom control panel, and robust technical support can prevent potential vulnerabilities that could lead to extra costs down the line. Leveraging powerful hardware and the latest-generation technology enhances your server’s defenses, ensuring it remains resilient against attacks.
As you dive into this security checklist, you’ll discover practical steps to fortify your game server hosting environment. Read on to safeguard your server effectively. This blog post will show you how to protect your game servers from these annoying online threats. Next, we’ll discuss what you can do to keep your game servers safe and running well.
Understanding the Threats: What Game Servers Face
3 Types of DDoS Attacks
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a critical threat to the stability and accessibility of game servers. In gaming, where real-time performance and low ping are crucial, these attacks can render a gaming server virtually unusable. Here are the most common types of DDoS attacks encountered by servers:
Volume-Based Attacks: These attacks aim to overwhelm the network bandwidth. Whether it’s a Minecraft server hosting setup or a more extensive network for games like 7 Days to Die or Valheim, the influx of bogus traffic is immense, making legitimate game traffic unable to process.
Protocol Attacks include Ping of Death and Smurf DDoS, which exploit vulnerabilities in the server’s transport and internet protocols, saturating them with requests and causing significant disruption.
Application Layer Attacks: These attacks target the very part of the server where web pages are generated and HTTP requests are processed. They are sophisticated enough to disrupt the server without significant traffic.
Common Hacking Techniques
Beyond DDoS attacks, game servers are vulnerable to hacking techniques that compromise server security, steal user data, and interrupt gameplay. Here are some prevalent methods:
SQL Injection: Hackers use SQL injection to manipulate server database queries through the game’s website or backend database. This can allow attackers to access the server files, jeopardize the integrity of a game, and even manipulate in-game elements.
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS): Through XSS, attackers inject malicious scripts into the web pages viewed by users or the server control panel.
This technique is particularly threatening for servers that maintain a large user base and extensive moderator interactions, like those in popular games hosted on platforms such as GPortal or other game hosting services.
Phishing Attacks: Server administrators and players can be deceived into providing login credentials through counterfeit websites mimicking popular hosting platforms. This technique can lead to unauthorized access to the server management tools and sensitive player information.
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS): By injecting malicious scripts into a game or its forums, hackers can hijack user sessions, deface websites, or redirect players to malicious websites.
Zero-Day Exploits: These attacks take advantage of previously unknown vulnerabilities in the game server software that have not yet been patched. They are particularly dangerous because there is no known defense against them until the vulnerability is discovered and fixed.
Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) Attacks: In these attacks, the hacker intercepts the communication between the player and the game server to steal login credentials, manipulate game data, or eavesdrop on sensitive information.
Exploitation of Software Vulnerabilities: Hackers exploit bugs or vulnerabilities in the game server’s software to gain unauthorized access or cause disruptions. This could include buffer overflows, SQL injection, or exploiting outdated software.
