March 12th SXSW panel hosted by Concentric, the largest privately owned security firm on the west coast, will tackle. “Gamers’ Security Paradigm Shift in Physical World” will discuss going “From Virtual to Reality” with Roderick Jones, Executive Chairman of Concentric; Paul Foster, CEO of Global Esports Federation and esports influencer and Pro Basketball Player Aerial Powers.
The security paradigm surrounding online influencers, and specifically gamers, has evolved to a dangerous level over the last few years. Ultimately, the uniqueness of influencers’ security problem comes from their real or perceived accessibility, the bipolarization of social consciousness in today’s era, including stigma of their profession, and the ability for bad actors to hide behind pseudonyms and aliases to prevent prosecution for their actions. The dangers of online threats aren’t going away any time soon.
According to Roderick, “As influencers bring viewers into their living rooms and/or bedrooms during live-streams or social media stories, participants can feel personally connected to the event, even though they are doing so along with tens of thousands of fellow viewers. A crossover into obsession is enabled by the ease of information about these individuals including physical addresses, familial contact information, and “pattern of life” details such as frequented stores, gyms, and friends’ houses.”
Additionally:
Influencers are forced to reckon with unsolicited and non-consensual messages, and sometimes photographs or videos, due to the reachability and access users have to their following on social media. Oftentimes this puts influencers in a vulnerable position, usually not realized until it’s too late to control.
Desensitization is expected from influencers when negative comments and responses are expected to be seen, allowed, and anticipated, even on a mass scale. Because that baseline of negativity is established, the threat escalation is significantly higher while also being allowed to “drown in the noise.”
Virtual attacks are below the threshold of concern and no direct correlation is anticipated to evolve into physical threat, regardless of the data proving otherwise. When physical threats do occur, there is limited recourse that influencers can take. “Unfortunately, the influencer industry is lagging behind on not only acknowledging the security threat posed by their unique accessibility, but also dealing with stigma and technology limitations that prevent adequate and holistic response options for the virtual threats that are directly turning into physical violence.”
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