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New Kaspersky Lab report for the gaming community.
In its new report, Kaspersky Lab spoke about cyber threats that lie in wait for computer game lovers. This area is particularly attractive for scammers who use different methods of deception. In addition, it is difficult to distinguish useful modifications from viruses in some games — Both types of files are distributed on suspicious forums with links to public hosting sites.
However, cyber fraud is not always associated with the installation of viruses. The study provides many examples of phishing websites that try to steal game accounts and take game currency or valuable items from them. The researchers also showed statistics on which games cybercriminals are most interested in. The leaders are Minecraft (by a large margin), Roblox and CS: GO.
The study covered cyberattacks related to more than ten popular games. Statistics were collected for the period from July 2022 to July 2023. During this time, more than 4 million attempts of cyber attacks with a "game theme" were detected. Most of the PC viruses were related to the game Minecraft: more than 70% of malware was related to this game. In second place is the Roblox gaming platform (just over 20%), followed by Counter Strike: Global Offensive (4.78%) and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (2.85%).
On mobile devices, the share of viruses masquerading as mods and stuff for Minecraft is even higher — more than 90%. On the second place — PUBG with 5,09%, on the third — Roblox with 3,33%. That is, Minecraft players have the most risks of downloading a virus from the Internet. There is also some risk for Hogwarts Legacy and League of Legends games.
In addition to mods and cheats for popular games, you can find many sites on the Internet that offer to download games for free. The probability of getting a malicious program rather than a game as a result is also extremely high in this case. It doesn't matter what data they are trying to steal: in most cases, the downloader is downloaded first, through which anything can be sent to the victim's computer. It is safe to say that the data will try to steal everything that just comes to hand.
A separate type of fraud is phishing sites that aim to steal a user's account in a particular game or from a game platform. After that, scammers can steal in-game currency or items and sell them. To do this, they come up with various reasons for requesting a username and password: it can be a fake distribution of some game bonuses, gift cards, or early access to a popular game (for example, to the recently released Counter-Strike 2). On mobile devices, phishing sites can mimic the game's interface, and scammers aim to steal not only the game's accounts, but also the victim's social media accounts. There are also sites on the Internet that sell games for half the price, where a transaction can end up stealing all the money from the card.
Kaspersky Lab's tips are simple: if possible, buy and download games from official stores or on well-known distribution platforms. Do not download pirated software. Do not forget that games like Minecraft and Roblox are often attacked also because they are played by children. They need to create a secure environment that blocks suspicious files and pages.
In its new report, Kaspersky Lab spoke about cyber threats that lie in wait for computer game lovers. This area is particularly attractive for scammers who use different methods of deception. In addition, it is difficult to distinguish useful modifications from viruses in some games — Both types of files are distributed on suspicious forums with links to public hosting sites.
However, cyber fraud is not always associated with the installation of viruses. The study provides many examples of phishing websites that try to steal game accounts and take game currency or valuable items from them. The researchers also showed statistics on which games cybercriminals are most interested in. The leaders are Minecraft (by a large margin), Roblox and CS: GO.
The study covered cyberattacks related to more than ten popular games. Statistics were collected for the period from July 2022 to July 2023. During this time, more than 4 million attempts of cyber attacks with a "game theme" were detected. Most of the PC viruses were related to the game Minecraft: more than 70% of malware was related to this game. In second place is the Roblox gaming platform (just over 20%), followed by Counter Strike: Global Offensive (4.78%) and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (2.85%).
On mobile devices, the share of viruses masquerading as mods and stuff for Minecraft is even higher — more than 90%. On the second place — PUBG with 5,09%, on the third — Roblox with 3,33%. That is, Minecraft players have the most risks of downloading a virus from the Internet. There is also some risk for Hogwarts Legacy and League of Legends games.
In addition to mods and cheats for popular games, you can find many sites on the Internet that offer to download games for free. The probability of getting a malicious program rather than a game as a result is also extremely high in this case. It doesn't matter what data they are trying to steal: in most cases, the downloader is downloaded first, through which anything can be sent to the victim's computer. It is safe to say that the data will try to steal everything that just comes to hand.
A separate type of fraud is phishing sites that aim to steal a user's account in a particular game or from a game platform. After that, scammers can steal in-game currency or items and sell them. To do this, they come up with various reasons for requesting a username and password: it can be a fake distribution of some game bonuses, gift cards, or early access to a popular game (for example, to the recently released Counter-Strike 2). On mobile devices, phishing sites can mimic the game's interface, and scammers aim to steal not only the game's accounts, but also the victim's social media accounts. There are also sites on the Internet that sell games for half the price, where a transaction can end up stealing all the money from the card.
Kaspersky Lab's tips are simple: if possible, buy and download games from official stores or on well-known distribution platforms. Do not download pirated software. Do not forget that games like Minecraft and Roblox are often attacked also because they are played by children. They need to create a secure environment that blocks suspicious files and pages.