Account sales are a big problem in almost every online service. Gold farming is also an issue for many games. How do you stop them? Should you? One key is to keep your legitimate customers happy and not spend a lot of time hunting down the "bad guys". There is a lot more that can be done to protect your online game, check out the resources, tools, and articles at http://free2secure.com/. If you are need have questions or comments, send me an email to steve @ free2secure.com with the subject “Game Fraud”. If you are interested in keeping up with the latest books, articles, and tools from me at Free2Secure send me an email steve @ free2secure.com with the subject “Subscribe”. Finally, if you have any security questions, issues, or shoot me a note to steve @ free2secure.com with the subject “Help”.

1. Security eBooks
Gold Farmers, Gold
Frauding, and
Account Sales
Steven Davis Fighting serious
fraud in Online
Games
steve@free2secure.com
Games, iGaming, and Gambling +1.650.278.7416

2. Security eBooks
This is
about
Business,
not Justice
Your goal is to maximize
revenue, not ensure that
people play the way you want
or do what you think is “Right”
steve@free2secure.com
Games, iGaming, and Gambling +1.650.278.7416

3. Security eBooks
You’ve heard of
Cheaters, Gold
Farmers, and Pirates?
•Don’t wait until after launch to consider them
•Implement and test economic systems EARLY and
rigorously
steve@free2secure.com
Games, iGaming, and Gambling +1.650.278.7416

4. Security eBooks
Gold Farmers are not Cheaters
• They are playing the game
properly with a different
Win criteria than you
• Lots of YOUR players have
different definitions of
Winning and Fun
– Play with their friends
– Not be bored
– Be super-powerful
– Not have time
steve@free2secure.com
Games, iGaming, and Gambling +1.650.278.7416

5. Security eBooks
Stock Market, not Auction House
item item item item
item item item item
item item item item
Buy Orders item item item item
Sell Orders item item item item
item item item item
item item item item
item item item item
• For each item, implement a queue of buy and sell orders. Matching orders get
executed
• Anonymize and decouple buyers from sellers to prevent covert buying using your
auction house
• Create real market turmoil (potentially) making it potentially riskier to gold farm
• Allows efficient intervention by game operator
steve@free2secure.com
Games, iGaming, and Gambling +1.650.278.7416

6. Security eBooks
Mini-games and real economy games
• Mini-games make AI
challenge for bots and
enliven time-based
activities
– Can be developed or
acquired at low cost
• Detailed economic
system models
– Richer game play gives
ordinary players to
participate in system
– Therefore, players
compete with farmers
steve@free2secure.com
Games, iGaming, and Gambling +1.650.278.7416

7. Security eBooks
Power-leveling and
Account Sales
• Inherently difficult if not
impossible to stop
• Best to manage
– Educate players to reset
passwords and password
recovery information
– Orderly account recovery in case
of theft
• Make it easy to exchange
characters between accounts
• Support escrow transactions
steve@free2secure.com
Games, iGaming, and Gambling +1.650.278.7416

8. Security eBooks
Ban Banning
• Online identity is already
weak
• Minimal action…. Let
troublemakers think they are
OK
– Heck, as long as they aren’t
bugging anyone else, keep
them around
• Redirect, Minimize, Isolate
steve@free2secure.com
Games, iGaming, and Gambling +1.650.278.7416

9. Security eBooks
Deep Logging • Log and store game events down to the
individual action level
• Provide tools for analysis and replay by staff as
well as players
– Can be used for live replay and broadcasting more
efficiently than screen captures
• Use signatures if sent to third party player
– Use integrity function on server to stop replay or
spoofing
• Deep Logging combined with Deterministic
Game Engines makes game verification MUCH
easier
• Should include (either for individual entry or
derivable):
IP, PlayerID, PlatformID, Session, Action, Action
Parameters, Platform Time, Server Time,
Signature
steve@free2secure.com
Games, iGaming, and Gambling +1.650.278.7416

10. Security eBooks
Profile • Store periodic
snapshots of player
profile and
Snapshots information
– At least for
several sessions
and over a period
of time
• Make it easy to
restore/rollback a
player profile
– Don’t investigate
problems, fix
them – faster,
cheaper, happier
player
• … can even
monetize…
steve@free2secure.com
Games, iGaming, and Gambling +1.650.278.7416

11. Security eBooks
• Use “Free to Play” for
security
e:
ur
– Insurance for Account
ec ing ity
Protection
– “Safe Backup” Images
2S tiz ur
– Account Locking on Vacation ee ne ec
– SMS Verification for Fr o t S
Transactions M un
– “Extra” Customer Service for c co
security incidents A
– … even “Protect Your Kids”
services
steve@free2secure.com
Games, iGaming, and Gambling +1.650.278.7416

12. Security eBooks
What next?
• Don’t give up!
• More security presentations at:
http://free2secure.com/
• Check out my book “Protecting Games”
– Additional information at http://playnoevil.com/
• You can “win” the security game
steve@free2secure.com
Games, iGaming, and Gambling +1.650.278.7416

13. Security eBooks
About Me
• Steven Davis
– 25+ Years of Security Expertise
– I have worked on everything from
online games and satellite TV to
Nuclear Command and Control and
military communications
• http://www.linkedin.com/in/playnoevil
– Author, “Protecting Games”
• Why Free2Secure?
– Security is too expensive and isn’t working. There has to be a better way.
I’m exploring these issues for IT security, ebooks, games, and whatever
else strikes my fancy at http://free2secure.com/
– Join me there, ask questions, challenge assumptions, let’s make things
better
steve@free2secure.com
Games, iGaming, and Gambling +1.650.278.7416