This week, DraftKings suffered from a breach that saw customers’ accounts hacked, with scammers stealing up to $300,000. It was a serious breach that caused DraftKings’ stock to plummet more than 10% in the following days, despite the firm promising to shore up any gaps and reimburse the impacted users. While DraftKings’ leadership stressed that no systems appeared to have been compromised, it was a blow and a knock to consumer confidence.
Reportedly, hackers were accessing customer accounts, changing their details so they couldn’t get back in, and withdrawing any funds they could get their hands on. This included funds stored in betting wallets, and by the end of the attack, over a quarter of a million dollars had been siphoned off the platform. In a statement given to Action Network, one user explained that he made a $5 deposit on DraftKings only to find, one minute later, that his entire bank account had been ‘wiped out’.
DraftKings is Reeling Following Severe Breach
FanDuel, arguably DraftKings’ chief competitor, explained that it had witnessed a ‘considerable uptick’ in the activity of hackers attempting to breach betting platforms in recent weeks. As a proactive measure, both FanDuel and DraftKings’ customer support teams have been issuing statements advising customers to tread carefully:
‘We remind our customers about the importance of good cybersecurity hygiene. FanDuel encourages customers to please stay vigilant and immediately report any suspicious activity if they suspect their account has been compromised.’
DraftKings was equally as proactive in issuing a warning message:
‘We strongly encourage customers to use unique passwords for DraftKings and all other sites, and we strongly recommend that customers do not share their passwords with anyone, including third party sites for the purposes of tracking betting information on DraftKings and other betting apps.’
In our increasingly digital world, the threat of hackers, breaches, and net-based scams is becoming a much more prominent concern. There are much more intelligent, targeted efforts being made these days, and the technical infrastructure of these platforms is pivotal when it comes to safe betting online.
That’s one of the reasons that, as the U.S. sports betting markets open up, there’s an intense level of safeguarding and due diligence taking place by regulatory bodies. When taking part in any kind of online gambling practice, users should try their hardest to make sure they’re only betting on reputable, safe, and reliable platforms.
Of course, it’s hard to say that any platform is truly safe – after all, DraftKings is one of the biggest betting sites in the United States. It’s important to stress that online safety does begin with the end user, and keen security practices can mean the difference between an exciting betting experience and a financially crushing one.
