Cybersecurity of Gambling Portals: Errors and Their Correction

The Online Casino Market specialists explain why young iGaming brands face hacker attacks and data leakage. From us, you will learn how to resist emerging security challenges and protect businesses against future threats.

What Is Cybersecurity

This is a system of technical, organisational, and legal measures aimed at maintaining the integrity of information, money, and operating processes from hacker attacks or other fraudulent activities.

Key components of the solution:

• compliance with regulatory requirements (GDPR, PCI DSS, and ISO 27001);
• control over the actions of personnel and partners;
• protection of user accounts and payment details;
• prevention of attacks on servers, APIs, and databases;
• safeguarding gaming algorithms.

Online casino niche is one of the most vulnerable ones. Its work is associated with a huge cash flow and provision of services to thousands of users per day. For this reason, the entertainment sector is facing increased interest from cybercriminals, scripters, and scammers.

The ThreatMetrix online publication shows the following statistics:

• 69% of gambling platforms have gone up against hackers at least once a year;
• 30% of attacks are transaction manipulations and bot activity;
• $3.5 billion per year is the damage from cybercrimes in the industry.

Experts from Juniper Research claim that every second hacking attempt leads to a leakage of player data or loss of money. More than 20% of new entertainment portals cannot obtain a licence due to non-compliance with security standards.

In 2025, gambling representatives will increasingly face the theft of profiles, SQL injections, fraud, multi-accounting, and massive DDoS attacks.

Why Online Casino Security is So Important

The safety of digital sites and information they contain plays a key role at the very start of the project because it is in the first 12 months of work that it is exposed to the greatest risks.

Increased Attention from Hackers

Virtual casinos are businesses with a large turnover and 24/7 operations. For this reason, entertainment platforms are increasingly faced with the attempts of fraud, as well as the theft of data and personal funds of clients. Criminals quickly find vulnerable financial gateways and solutions with weak authorisation.

Reputational Risks

If, for example, user accounts are hacked, and funds or personal data are stolen, then clients will not return to the website and will not recommend it to others.

Large gaming holdings usually successfully cope with any image risks, but for young companies, reputation is everything. Mistakes at the start can easily bury the project, causing the casino to lose the trust of clients and B2B partners.

Launching a platform with a built-in security system will perform the following tasks:

• increase customer loyalty;
• help pass the regulator's audit;
• simplify the connection of payment solutions and affiliate services.

Strict Requirements of Gambling Commissions

Many regions (Europe, Great Britain, and the US) oblige operators to:

• protect personal and financial data;
• implement encryption algorithms;
• conduct the logging of events;
• add mechanisms to combat money laundering.

If an entertainment project does not meet the stated requirements, the licence will be either not issued or revoked. Therefore, it is worth monitoring the security of a casino business even at the development stage.

Insider Information and Technical Negligence Issues

As a rule, iGaming startups have few staff, which increases the risks of:

• accidental data deletion;
• leaks due to engineers accessing PROD details;
• sabotage on the part of frustrated employees.

Direct Financial Losses

Neglect of protective measures can cause huge financial costs:

• data leakage, for example, causes huge fines and long court procedures;
• a large-scale DDoS attack always means downtime for the website, as well as loss of bets and players;
• hacking accounts and illegal withdrawal of funds can have consequences in the form of compensation payments to affected customers.

Typical Errors and How to Correct Them

Inaccuracies in the work of iGaming startups at an early stage can lead not only to financial losses but also to the collapse of user confidence, blocking by government agencies, and even criminal liability.

Let us consider the difficulties that operators may face.

Lack of Basic Security Architecture

A common phenomenon is focusing only on functionality, launch speed, and UX components. Young online casino brands forget about the protection of APIs, databases, storage, and servers, which makes them an easy target for cybercriminals.

The main risks for entrepreneurs:

• leak of personal information and payment details;
• game algorithm compromising (for example, a random number generator);
• account hacking and the transfer of funds.

The solution to the problem will be the implementation of advanced security systems. They contain WAF (Web Application Firewall), IDS/IPS, DDoS, and other components aimed at protecting the casino architecture.

Improper Storage of Client Data and Maintenance of Its Safety

One of the main mistakes is the localisation of information in open form without encryption or with poor key management.

Such actions are a direct violation of GDPR laws, requirements of financial regulators (PCI DSS), ISO 27001 certifications, and other regulatory acts. For this, operators face fines and the loss of licence.

Ways to protect iGaming startups:

• encryption of data at rest and in transit;
• storage of payment details using tokenisation or third-party PCI-DSS compliant providers;
• the use of additional protocols (such as HSM or KMS) for site perimeter security.

Weak Authentication System

Support for Know Your Customer procedures is one of the main requirements of regulators. However, even if the user verification service is installed, any inaccuracies in its work can lead to serious problems.

Common errors in the KYC module include passwords that are too simple, lack of MFA (multi-factor authentication), and monitoring of login attempts.

How to protect online casinos from cyber threats:

• mandatory identity verification in the 2FA or MFA format for all clients and administrators;
• setting up CAPTCHA and login attempt limits;
• implementation of behavioural analytics (for example, tracking visits from new devices and checking IP addresses).

Lack of Monitoring and Incident Response

In the first 12 months of the company’s operation, it is important to track all actions of users and staff. Besides, entrepreneurs should set up a system of notifications and emergency response to hacker attacks (SIEM).

Such component shortages entail the following risks:

• late response to failures and leaks when it is no longer possible to do anything;
• complexities in data collection for incident investigation.

The solution to these problems will be logging all critical actions (registrations, transactions, or changes in settings). Another option is to install security software with SIEM services (such as Splunk, Graylog, ELK, or other programs).

IgnorIng the Law

This means working in a “grey” zone, without complying with the requirements of licensing authorities regarding data protection, audits, and client verification. As a result, business owners risk domain blocking, lawsuits, and even the closure of the startup.

To protect your project, it is important to carefully study the requirements of regulators and get professional legal support.

Non-Audited Code and Dependence on Third-Parties

In this case, we are talking about the use of libraries, frameworks, plugins, and other components without prior vulnerability testing. This simplifies the introduction of malware by fraudsters and makes iGaming sites accessible to the theft of confidential data.

Ways to protect online casinos:

• conducting static and dynamic code analysis;
• regular updates of libraries and platforms;
• launch of automatic vulnerability scanners (for example, Snyk or OWASP Dependency-Check).

Too Broad Access to Employees

Developers, testers, and marketers often can see PROD information, as well as the details on payment systems or confidential reports. Because of this, brands risk becoming a victim of unintentional leaks, data corruption, and even insider attacks.

Cybersecurity can be improved through high-quality auditing. Another option is to integrate RBAC (Role-Based Access Control). It also protects entertainment firms from accidental or intentional errors of their employees.

The Main Things about the Safety of iGaming Startups

It is not just an additional option but a mandatory element of every legal casino business.

Key aspects that operators should take into account:

• Having a clear security strategy helps obtain a licence, connect payment services, and ensure that the funds are reliably protected. The disregard of safety requirements, on the contrary, leads to reputational risks and direct financial losses.
• Common mistakes of gambling brands include improper storage of client data, lack of basic security architecture, and end-to-end monitoring. It is necessary to provide multi-factor verification and different levels of access for full-time employees.

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