Title: A proposed model for security of quality of experience data in the cloud gaming environment

Authors: Awais Khan Jumani; Jinglun Shi; Asif Ali Laghari; Aftab ul Nabi

Addresses: School of Electronic and Information Engineering, South China University of Technology (SCUT), Guangzhou, Guangdong, China ' School of Electronic and Information Engineering, South China University of Technology (SCUT), Guangzhou, Guangdong, China ' Software College, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, China ' School of Electronic and Information Engineering, South China University of Technology (SCUT), Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

Abstract: Gaming companies heavily rely on collecting quality of experience (QoE) data to gain insights into the performance of their games and make enhancements. This data encompasses aspects such as latency, packet loss and frame rate. By analysing QoE data, companies can detect issues with the games infrastructure and make adjustments to the games design. However, it is important to recognise that QoE data is also vulnerable to attacks. Hackers can exploit vulnerabilities in the games design because they are stealing data from QoE data. This unauthorised access can lead to troubles, for players or even compromise personal information of players. In this paper, we have evaluated security measures for online gaming and highlighted the issues related to the interplay between QoE data and data security, security threats, network attacks in multiplayer games, vulnerabilities in QoE data collection, and existing protocols. Moreover, we have proposed a new security measure for QoE data in a gaming environment. Our proposed measure uses encryption, access control, and intrusion detection to protect QoE data from unauthorised access and manipulation. Lastly, we have underlined open research issues related to online gaming.

Keywords: QoE security; online gaming; bidding; subjective QoE; objective QoE; online attacks.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESDF.2025.145873

International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics, 2025 Vol.17 No.3, pp.327 - 350

Received: 11 Jul 2023
Accepted: 04 Sep 2023
Published online: 30 Apr 2025 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article