TechCrunch contributor  discusses why and how the video game industry is increasingly being targeted by cybercrime, and interviews Panopticon Labs co-founder Matt Cook:

Matthew Cook, co-founder of Panopticon, believes that publishers are putting up with the unwanted behaviors of bad actors and accept it as a cost of doing business. “So often, the publishers we talk to refer to fighting back against these unwanted players as a game of ‘whack a mole’ that they can never win,” he says.

In contrast, he believes, publishers can fight back and eliminate fraudulent or harmful activities, provided they get a head start in securing their games and are dedicated to keeping bad players out after they’re gone. “Unfortunately, slow, manual processes like combing through suspected bad actor reports, or performing half-hearted quarterly ban activities just won’t cut it anymore,” Cook stresses. “The bad guys have gotten too good, and there’s simply too much financial opportunity for them to be dissuaded by reactive rules and reports.

Read the whole article here.