Parents, protect your kids from ‘suicide’ games
Manama : Game developers and cyber security experts have called upon users of smart devices in the Kingdom to be vigilant against “suicide games” like ‘Blue Whale’ that are trending on internet and online games stores.
Parents are also advised to rationally monitor their children’s online activities to protect them from falling prey to hackers and cybercriminals.
The “suicide” challenges have created global concerns lately, with users, mostly teenagers and youngsters committing suicides and harming themselves as part of proceeding in the stages of the games, which are “disturbingly gaining popularity among the youth” as described by psychologists and cyber security professionals. The “Blue Whale” challenge apparently led hundreds of youngsters to commit suicide worldwide. Created by a Russian game developer, the game requires players to finish a set of challenges distributed on 50 days. The challenges include cutting wounds in the shape of a whale on their bodies and supposedly ending with players killing themselves in different methods to finish the game. The latest case was reported on Saturday in India, where a tenth standard male student wrapped his head with a plastic bag to suffocation, so as to meet the requirements to win the game.
Scare wave
Although few cases have been reported in the GCC and Middle East, the wave of fear of the self-destructive games has alerted netizens and parents here. This increased with the emergence of a new game named “Mariam” that is said to have similar effects and goals as to that of the Blue Whale.
“Mariam” is basically a game in Arabic about a lost little girl who asks the player to help her reach back home. However, the tasks quickly change into answering several questions to move to the next levels. Some of the questions revolve around the personal information of the player, such as his or her location, political orientation and family members. Created by a Saudi game developer, the game is as dangerous as the Blue Whale.
Awareness is the key
When asked about the means of protection against such games, Communication and Cyber Security Management Consultant at ComTech Bahrain Dr. Abdulla Althawadi told DT News that “spreading awareness is the most effective method of protection”.
“Technology can’t be stopped and will continue to develop, but we can protect ourselves from its negative effects through awareness,” said Dr. Althawadi.
“These apps can’t be stopped, but the risks could be limited. Unfortunately, we use technology blindly. It’s important that players read the settings of each app and game, especially related to the user’s privacy. Don’t accept questions or tools that breach your privacy,” he said.
“Users should also be aware from links outside the official play store range, as most of them are opportunities for hackers to infiltrate their victims’ devices,” Dr. Althawadi said.
He stressed on the responsibility of protecting children from such malware, noting that “it’s more likely that they fall prey to such traps than matured persons, who would usually realise if any questions are irrational or invade the privacy of a person”.
“Parents, to a certain extent, should check on the apps downloaded and used by their children. Many kids get addicted to some games and apps, leading to dangerous psychological illnesses. It’s the parents’ role to prevent that from happening through rational monitoring and transparency with their children,” he said.
Social engineering
Dr. Althawadi also noted in his conversation with DT News to the dangers of social engineering, which “could have harmful effects if used for criminal purposes”.
Explaining further Dr. Althawadi said “it’s actually a process of profiling a person through extracting certain information from the victim, who in most cases intentionally provides them in the form of playing a stage in the game or answering a question in it”.
“The information, which may also include footage of the victim, could be very likely used for blackmailing purposes. Motivations of the process vary, according to the developer of the app, as they could be criminal or political. People, especially youngsters, usually get addicted to such games and want to proceed to the next levels. For this reason they would unknowingly provide the developer with the information needed to blackmail or harm them in many ways,” Dr. Althawadi clarified.
He advised victims to report such incidents immediately to the Anti-Cybercrime Directorate in Interior Ministry. “The authorities here are well-equipped and capable of dealing with cybercriminals than a regular person. Whatever happens, don’t respond to any blackmailing attempts. If you pay them once, you would only motivate the offenders to repeatedly ask for more,” the expert said, adding that “Bahrain is safer from other bigger countries in terms of being targeted by cyber attacks”.
“Mariam”
Commenting on the recent concerns in the region over game “Mariam”, Bahrain Game Developers Founder Ameen Al Tajer said there’s no need to worry from this app, as it doesn’t extract any personal information from users’ devices.
“A reputed Saudi software engineer did a software eavesdropping process, which monitors if any data is sent from the device of the player to any other device, to determine if the rumours claiming that the game infiltrates personal data are true or not. He confirmed that the app doesn’t extract any info from the devices it’s downloaded on,” Al Tajer said.
“All the fuss was created because some questions asked in the game suggest that they are seeking personal information. Especially that the questions include sensitive questions about the current GCC crisis, giving the impression that it’s the work of intelligence and not game developing,” Al Tajer said.
However, the Bahraini game developer reaffirmed that users should not share personal information online that could be used against them.
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