For a non-biological entity, the internet is an area filled with constant and unstoppable evolution. From the hardware which backs it to the software systems it carries, nothing in this arena stays the same for long. One of the most major forms these changes take is seen in the world of security.
While there are many fields in which this battle is fought, by focusing on just one it can be possible to track greater trends in the online security environment. For the sake of this article, we want to use online bingo as an example. A simple game to play on the surface, it’s a world in which the real developments run surprisingly deep. Staying steady over the years, the invisible parts of such games are top of the class. But how did we get here?
A Change in Browsers
As this article by Popular Mechanics on Netscape Navigator can tell you, the earliest web browsers were incredibly simple. In some cases, the first browsers even had the option to disable all images from loading, to save on data costs. The problem with these browsers was that patches were few and far between, and limited expertise in developer security meant that malware was a constant concern.
“My Old Navigator” (CC BY 2.0) by OiMax
This could have been problematic for the first browser bingo games, which appeared as early as 1996. To combat this issue, very specific locks were put into which browsers could access the first bingo offerings. Simply put, if a browser didn’t have the latest security tech, it wasn’t supported.
Over time, this security concern aided in the rise of online bingo which moved away from direct browser integration. Instead, many bingo games relied on downloadable clients from online casinos, which were much more tightly controlled, doing things many websites at the time couldn’t. These remained a standard for ages, only seeing significant abandonment recently.
The Modern Age
In the last few years, arguable the biggest change in online bingo gaming has come from improvements in HTML and related web technologies. HTML5, as a much more flexible system than its predecessors, has paved the way for bingo games to head back to browsers en force.
Take, for example, the games on Bingo Betfair online in UK areas. Thanks to modern tech, games like Housey Bingo and House of Mirrors are not just entirely safe on major websites, but they also run far faster and look far better than any old bingo games could. Not simply due to convenience, this change was also a matter of necessity.
Most online games used to operate within the system of Adobe Flash, which was the standard for many years. Yet Flash’s inbuilt limitations, including a growing potential for security flaws, put it on a road to obsolescence, as Time explains. This proved to major hurdle for some forms of entertainment, acting as a danger to online software without a proactive approach. Like most online casino games, bingo abandoned this system some time ago, but many still haven’t.
“Museum Computer” (CC BY 2.0) by Rd. Vortex
While just illustrating one small slice of the greater internet security landscape, online bingo points out some of the most major issues which occurred, and how they have been combatted. Sometimes, better security meant being demanding of browser standards, where other times it meant abandoning these systems entirely. Today, however, with systems as strict and advanced as they are, security and flexibility within browsers are the best they’ve ever been. Whatever might come next, if the past is any indication, bingo will reflect the best the web has to offer.
