Scam Being Sent From Sandbox Employee Account

Mark Kennedy & Manuel Olumorin
March 03, 2023

GM. We went into the last dungeon for the week and found the world's famous Lootbox.

In it?

Sandbox employee account being used for scam
The most important metric for games?
The Sneakies - $254 million in funding in 1 week 🤯

Sandbox Employee Computer Hacked And Used For Scam

Another day, another hack.

This time, it's a Sandbox employee.

⚠️ Important! One of The Sandbox employee was hacked & his email used to send SCAM emails, disguised as if these were official ⚠️
⛔️ Do not click on any links and report it as "SPAM" or "PHISHING" directly
👍 Stay Safe and Alert. Read our security guide sandboxgame.gitbook.io/the-sandbox/ac…
— Sebastien 🏞 (@borgetsebastien)
Feb 27, 2023

Let's get to what happened

In a blog post on Feb 27, The Sandbox revealed that an unauthorized third party had gained access to one of its employee's computers, which was then used to send a phishing email to users.

The email was titled "The Sandbox Game (PURELAND) Access."

And it contained the obvious - links to malware for access to your personal information.

So, how many people were affected? Few or many?

Sandbox has yet to disclose this information. 👀 for the future.

Deeper...

Other recent web3 attacks include the theft of $1.8 million worth of crypto NFTs from 2 wallets by a scammer called Monkey Drainer. Web3 natives like Nikhil Gopalani and CryptoNovo have lost big to scammers who compromised their wallets.

These incidents show that it might be time to call in the Armada to combat the pirate problem (cyber criminals).

The Armada

Web3 developers must prioritize security as they build new platforms and games. This means implementing measures such as two-factor authentication, encryption, and regular security audits to protect user data and prevent unauthorized access.
Employee training is also essential, as social engineering attacks such as phishing emails can be particularly effective in compromising systems. Boy, I hated phishing drills while working at a large company, but it works.

Lootbringer's take

Imagine hearing a bank (love 'em or hate 'em) getting hacked frequently. No one way you are going to use them, at least I won't.

Ultimately, the success of web3 depends on the ability of developers to create secure and reliable platforms that users can trust.

The Most Important Metric For Games

A chap on Twitter dropped a secret bomb in a whisper.

"The single most important metric in games is retention."

Pretty obvious, right?

Not really. Let's take a look at what many pay attention to in web3 games.

TVL (Total Value Locked), DAUs or MAUs (Daily and Monthly Active Users), and number of transactions. All good metrics to pay attention to, but not according to the chap, @JoshLu.

Let's get to juicy takeaways of his tweet thread in short form. 'cos you ain't got all day.

The single most important metric in games (and in most consumer apps) is retention. I always tell game teams to just obsess over retention over everything else including revenue. Why?
1. It drives long-term growth
2. It drives revenue
3. It drives virality
Let's dive in
👇
— Josh Lu (@JoshLu)
Mar 1, 2023

The key takeaways

Forget about revenue and installs. When it comes to measuring success in the gaming industry, retention is king. The longer players stick around, the more likely your game will experience long-term growth.
Retention drives revenue. The average retention curves for Google Play's top-grossing games show a correlation between retention and revenue.
Retention is also correlated with virality. The longer players stick around, the more opportunities they have to invite their friends to play the game.
Retention is a lagging indicator so how can you predict that your game would have good retention? Measure engagement. If players are engaged, they're more likely to stick around.

What this means for web3 devs building now...

If you're a web3 developer, you have an advantage over traditional game developers. You can incentivize players to stick around by rewarding them with tokens and creating in-game economies. But to do that, you need to create a game that's fun to play and keeps players engaged. Simplifying the onboarding process doesn't hurt either...

LFG

The Sneakies

Funds from Venture funds are still flowing as $254M was poured into the crypto ecosystem in a week. 25 startups got a share of the funds in a wild week of funding.
Chainlink introduces a serverless platform, Chainlink Functions, to help web3 developers connect dApps and smart contracts to web2 APIs. Builders can now easily run computations on web2 APIs in just minutes with Chainlink's latest offering.
Polygon launches a web3 ID service using zero-knowledge proofs called Polygon ID. And it has garnered support from projects like Fractal, Collab.Land, and Kaleido.
MTG (More Than Gamers), the gaming project that rose quickly to fame for its quick traction and ambitious roadmap, had its original founders step aside, and holders are pissed.

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Scam Being Sent From Sandbox Employee Account

Sandbox Employee Computer Hacked And Used For Scam

The Most Important Metric For Games

The Sneakies

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