Assignment: IEEE Security & Privacy Securing Online Games Readings

Due: Tuesday, November 24th in class

This assignment is worth 10 points. You must work on this assignment individually.

I co-edited with Gary McGraw a special issue of IEEE Security & Privacy on Securing Online Games (Volume 7, Number 3, May/June 2009). Below are six articles from the issue, all in PDF format:

• Guest Editors' Introduction (McGraw, Chow)
• Reducing the Attack Surface in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (Bono, Caselden, Landau, Miller)
• Walking on Water: A Cheating Case Study (Portnoy, Rizvi-Santiago)
• Virtual Judgment: Legal Implications of Online Gaming (Kane)
• Server-Side Bot Detection in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (Mitterhofer, Platzer, Kruegel, Kirda)
• An Investigation of Cheating in Online Games (Yan, Randell)

Read all six (6) papers. Please answer all of the following questions in no more than one-paged typed:

1. After reading all the papers, what do you think is the main reason for vulnerabilities or insecurity in online games: technical or non-technical?
2. A number of vulnerabilities and exploits are described in the papers. Which is your favorite?
3. What is your solution to reduce the vulnerabilities and exploits in online games (PC)?
4. Do you envision these issues to happen in your 2D game or final project?
5. Do you think these issues apply for mobile games?

Submitting the Assignment

Please hand in assignment in class on Tuesday, November 24th.