Fortnite, the popular Battle Royale Game developed by Epic Games, is suffering from a serious issue of stolen accounts. The ‘Fortnite Cracking‘ problem is growing by the day with many users reporting that they are not able to login into their Fortnite account with the credentials.
Teenage hackers are behind the stolen accounts and are making thousands of pounds by selling them. In an interview with the BBC, a Slovenian teenager said that he had made £16,000 which translates to around $20,000 by selling the stolen Fortnite accounts in the last seven months.
These hackers use a technique dubbed ‘Credential Stuffing‘ that involves searching the lists of exposed username/emails and passwords from other already hacked servers. The information about hacked online services is easily available online. Next, they use a hit and trial method where they use the obtained credentials to log in to Fortnite’s website. If the hacker is lucky, he can get hold of an account in which the original owner has purchased V-bucks, Fortnite’s internal currency.
V-bucks are used in Fortnite for purchasing in-game accessories such as weapons, character models, skins for backpacks, emotes, etc. Some of these accessories are really costly and rare. If a hacked account has these items, it could fetch a hefty sum to the hacker.
One of the best means for stopping a hacker from getting hold of your account is using 2-Factor Authentication. When you turn on 2FA in Fortnite, you will receive a code on your email. Fortnite also supports mobile authentication apps. Fortnite developers also understand the importance of turning on 2FA which is why they have incentivized it. Players can receive gifts such as backpack slots, Troll Stash Llama and free emotes just for switching on 2FA in their account.
Another important factor that can prevent you from being the target of such hackers is not using the same password for every other online service. If you have used the same password for your email and Fortnite account, 2FA will not help you in protecting yourself from the hackers. Moreover, you could lose your email account to hackers as well. Use complex passwords that are difficult to guess and refrain from using the same password on different websites.
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