When you watch the news or catch a quick glimpse of the news on the internet, you can’t help but notice reading headlines about the American iGaming industry. When you generate more than $60 billion in one year, more states like New York will be pushing hard to legalize online casinos in the near future. With so much attention and online casino members signing up at record pace, safely monitoring and administering the new members is beyond the basic human approach.
That’s where AI and its algorithms enter the equation for the growing online casino industry. With cybersecurity at the forefront for any reputable online casino, here are the ways that AI continues to be invaluable in the fight against cybercriminals.
Why Cybersecurity Is Paramount for Online Casinos
With so much attention and businesses functioning online, especially during record-setting inflation, businesses, including online casinos, must maintain safe online spaces to retain their customers and maintain their brand’s reputation. Unfortunately, sophisticated cyberthieves have brought government agencies, medical industries, and even casinos to their knees with billions of dollars worth of ransomware attacks.
Also, only reputable casinos in the seven states that support iGaming mandate strict cybersecurity defenses. If these casinos fail in this regard, their licenses will be stripped, which means they can’t operate online.
Common Threats Facing Online Casinos
While online casinos offer 24/7 of premium online casino gameplay, unfortunately, sophisticated cybercriminals are up 24/7 looking to penetrate the iGaming network’s defenses. All it takes is one bad actor in the network to infect it with malicious code. When word spreads quickly about data breaches, it’s often tough for a reputable online casino to rebound beyond the initial profit loss. With AI’s assistance, online casino cybersecurity focuses on these devastating types of cyberattacks.
- Ransomware – Ransomware is a unique type and class of malware that literally takes over an organization’s or a casino’s network with viruses. These viruses run programs that completely lock the organization out of their network. Unable to operate, these companies and casinos are forced to give in to the ransom demands to free their network and resume business operations. The problem, beyond the initial profit loss, is the loss of trust and confidence from the consumer. If trust can’t be rebuilt, a company, even an online casino, can go out of business.
- Malware – There are many ways AI stands on guard against malicious software. Through advanced program models and behavioral AI patterns of its online base, an online casino can identify a member or data foreign to the network in real time. By quickly isolating it and by having a pre-programmed base of well-known malware, online casinos can quickly shoot down and lock out dangerous malware from entering their networks. Malware can infect computer systems in forms like adware, spyware, worms, Trojan viruses, and more.
- DoS – Some hackers simply bombard a network with a series of denial-of-service attacks. Not knowing what to look for and unprepared to sustain the barrage, hackers are able to overpower the network’s defenses. But with AI on the frontline, online casinos can breathe easier because they pre-stored knowledge of what to look for in their databanks and execute safeguards against DoS attacks.
Ways AI Bolster Online Casino Cybersecurity
While no method is 100% fool-proof, behavioral AI is the strongest candidate to stop cybercriminals in their tracks. With so many online casino members logging in and out, making financial transactions, and members creating their accounts, AI is on top of these critical areas with these cybersecurity measures.
Account Creation Verification
There’s a reason why registering at an online casino is a detailed experience. It’s to prevent bad actors from entering the network. 
A new member must verify their identity with valid email addresses, residential addresses, and social security numbers, and AI verifies all of these claims by asking for photo ID and picture uploads. Through sophisticated algorithms, AI can identify deepfakes and deny registration forms. Without a verification link, your online casino account can’t become official. For accounts that are approved, AI will ask you to create an original username and a password that might feature special symbols and number combinations.
AI’s Role for Multi-Factor Authentication
When you become an official online casino member, behavioral AI takes note of all your actions on the website, beginning with your authentication details. Sometimes, you’ll be asked multiple times to verify your login details to ensure that you are an authentic member. Sometimes, it is common to share passwords, which is something that multi-factor authentication stays on top of with the help of AI. If you suddenly enter the wrong credentials that are not remotely close to the real credentials, you can expect AI to further investigate.
AI Monitoring Playing Habits
Online casinos rely heavily on behavioral AI to catalog a member’s favorite games, playing style, and how long they play them. Through behavioral AI, if it detects something out of the ordinary, like a sudden shift in playing time or not playing their usual games, AI might request further verification. If the online casino doesn’t get the satisfactory verification info or documents to prove identity further, it will swiftly lock that member out of the network to protect the whole group.
AI for Fraud Protection
The universal theme for AI aiding online casinos is to prevent fraud, and this is especially so for authenticating deposits. To win real money, online casino members have to submit their financial details, such as credit cards or VIP preferred, which link bank accounts. The best online casinos frequently ask their members to verify these details to ensure that it is really them. Failure to do so, like the redemption process at a social casino, will result in denial of making transactions or getting withdrawal requests processed. 
Through behavioral AI, an online casino knows which financial information belongs to the member, so if one member is trying to use someone else’s details or using a new method never used before, AI will ask for more authentication.
Final Thoughts – AI Is the Future of Online Casino Cybersecurity
As technology improves leaps and bounds, so do the demands of an online casino. Cyberthieves are taking advantage of new technological developments, which is why leading online casinos have to constantly update their AI measures to stay ahead of the game. As behavioral AI continues to fine-tune its models and algorithms, AI can continue to adapt to new malware and ransomware schemes to maintain the reputations of online casinos.
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