Kaspersky: Over 900,000 victims of fake video games spread malware in a year

Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the growing demand for video games to spread malware through fake versions of the most popular games, according to research by Kaspersky. Over 900,000 users have experienced these attacks in the 12 months since early June 2018. More than a third of the attacks have been in just three games.

The world has known video games for a long time, but the power of the Internet has accelerated their growth and development. Today, about one in 10 people in the world plays electronic games on the Internet. Like other forms of digital entertainment, video games are vulnerable to abuse such as copyright infringement and illegal online tracking, but they also face another growing threat, fraud using their names to disguise the spread of malware. Many popular video games are hosted on digital distribution platforms that cannot always detect the legitimacy of the game software files being uploaded to them, as they may be malicious software disguised as electronic games.

 

Kaspersky researchers decided to take a closer look at infected files discovered during 2018 and into the first half of 2019. Minecraft topped the list of abused games, with malware masquerading as about 30% of the attacks, while the number of attacks reached Infected users have more than 310,000 users. GTA 5 ranked second, with attacks targeting more than 112,000 users, while Sims 4 came fourth with 105,000 targeted users.

According to the researchers, the criminals were also trying to lure users to download malicious files claiming to be unreleased games. Fake versions of at least 10 unreleased games were seen, with 80% of cases detected focusing on FIFA 20, Borderlands 3 and Elder Scrolls 6.

 

Maria Fedorova, a security researcher at Kaspersky, said that for months security research teams have been watching criminals take advantage of entertainment to surprise users, whether it is episodes of famous TV series, premieres of major movies, or famous video games, and added: “It is easy to explain, usually People tend to be less careful when they want to relax and have fun, and if users don't expect malware to be around for fun they've been using for years, the success of the attack won't require a high-level threat, so we urge everyone to be careful and avoid untrusted digital platforms, suspicious offers, and malware installations. protection and a periodic security scan of all devices used in the game.”

Use only official reputable services. Kaspersky recommends the following measures to avoid falling victim to malware posing as video games:

Pay attention to the authenticity of websites and avoid visiting websites that allow downloading video games until you are sure that they are legitimate and legal and that their website address begins with https, as well as check the syntax of the address and the letters of the company name before starting the download.

Avoid clicking on any suspicious links, such as those offering you an opportunity to play a game that hasn't been released yet.

Use trusted security solutions like Kaspersky Security Cloud for comprehensive protection against a wide range of threats.

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