Security risks with Pokemon Go

The extraordinary success of Pokémon Go has been surprising, even in the rapidly changing paradigm of the mobile application space. The game, which allows users to hunt down and capture virtual monsters, uses Augmented Reality (AR) technology to display the creatures in real world locations such as parks, homes, and offices.

Pokémon Go has already broken five Guinness World Records, including most revenue grossed by a mobile game in its first month: $206.5 million. There’s no denying that the game has set a new benchmark that the next generation of games will aim to surpass. However, businesses looking to model their strategy after the success of Pokémon Go need to also be aware of what the game’s developer Niantic missed – especially when it comes to security.

There were privacy concerns around the game’s initial launch due to over-requesting of permissions for a user’s Google account. The application asked for access to full account privileges, although Niantic maintains that the game never used any of the extended permissions. There were also reports of users downloading and installing fake pre-release versions of the software, which were found to contain malware.

Since addressing the initial issues, the ongoing battle between the developer and groups of hackers has focused on accessing and unlocking upcoming aspects of the game code. The current attacks have been relatively benign, with groups simply wishing to discover spoilers in the information coded into the game and its resources and graphics. Helper apps and websites also emerged to assist players in tracking down creatures using server data surreptitiously– frequently overwhelming the backend in the process.



Credits:
https://appdevelopermagazine.com/4509/2016/10/13/What-the-mobile-AR-phenomenon-has-taught-us-about-security