Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the growing demand for video games to spread malicious software through fake versions of the most popular games, according to research by Kaspersky. More than 900,000 users have been exposed to attacks in 12 months since early June 2018. More than a third of attacks have been concentrated in just three games.
The world has known video games for a long time, but the power of the Internet has contributed to accelerating its growth and development. Today, about one out of every 10 people in the world exercise online games. Like other digital entertainment, video games are vulnerable to abuse such as copyright infringement and illegal electronic tracking, but they also face another growing threat - fraud by name to disguise the spread of malicious software. Many of the popular video games are hosted on digital distribution platforms that can not always discover the legitimacy of game software files uploaded to them, as they may be malicious software disguised as electronic games.
The researchers at Kaspersky decided to look closely at the infected files discovered in 2018 until the first half of 2019. Minecraft topped the list of games that were abused. Malicious malware in this game accounted for about 30% of attacks, Users with more than 310,000 users. GTA 5 was second, with more than 112,000 attacks targeted, while Sims 4 came in fourth with 105,000 target users.
According to the researchers, the criminals were also trying to lure users to download malicious files claiming to be games not yet released. Deceptive versions of at least 10 games have yet to be released, with 80% of detected cases focused on FIFA 20, Borderlands 3 and Elder Scrolls 6.
Kaspersky security researcher Maria Fedorova said the security search teams have for months watched criminals exploit entertainment to surprise users, whether it was episodes of a popular TV series, first screenings of major movies, or popular video games. "It's easy to explain, People need to be less careful when they want to relax and enjoy. If users do not expect malicious software to be used for years, the success of the attack will not require a high-level threat, so we urge everyone to be cautious and avoid unreliable digital platforms and suspicious offers. Protection software and conduct a security survey periodically to all devices used in the play. "