Caution: Malware attack on fake video games

The digital criminals take advantage of the growing demand for video games distributing malware through counterfeit copies of the most popular, according to a survey by Kaspersky.

Πmore than 930.000 users have received such attacks over a period of one year from early June 2018 to early June 2019. More than a third of the attacks focused on just three games.

The gaming videos has been in our lives for quite some time, but the power of the Internet has accelerated its development and evolution. Nowadays, about 1 in 10 people worldwide play online games. Like other forms of digital entertainment, video games are vulnerable to infringement, such as copyright infringement and illegal torrents, but now face another growing threat: the fraudulent use of their brand as a means of distributing malware. Many of the top video games are hosted on digital distribution platforms. They can not always tell if the "uploaded" software files are legitimate gaming files or hidden samples of malware.

Her researchers Kaspersky decided to scrutinize the "infected" files found during 2018 and early 2019. At the top of the list of violated games was'Minecraft'. Malicious software was found in this game that was responsible for about 30% of the attacks, with over 105.000 users being attacked. In second place was'GTA 5', through which more than 112.000 users were targeted. The 'Sims 4took third place, with almost 105.000 users attacked.

According to the investigators, the criminals tried to entice users to download malicious files, which were presented as unreleased games. Misleading samples were found in at least 10 games to be released, with 80% of the detections being located mainly in FIFA 20 coins, the Borderlands 3 and The Elder Scrolls 6.

«For months now, we've seen criminals take advantage of entertainment to surprise users - whether it's called popular TV series, premieres of top movies or popular video games. The explanation is simple - people are not alert when they just want to relax and have fun. If they do not expect to find malware in something fun that they have been using for years, they do not need some kind of sophisticated threat player to achieve the goal. We urge everyone to be vigilant, to avoid unreliable digital platforms and suspicious offers, to install security software and to perform regular security checks on all gaming devices", Commented the Maria Fedorova, security researcher at Kaspersky.

To avoid falling prey to malware pretending to be video games, Kaspersky recommends the following steps:

• Use only legitimate services with a proven reputation.
• Pay extra attention to the authenticity of the websites. Do not visit websites that allow downloading video games, until you are sure that they are legal and start with "https". Confirm that the website is authentic by double-clicking on the URL format or the spelling of the company name before starting the download.
• Do not click on suspicious websites, such as those that promise that you can play unreleased games.

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