The increase in the number of players since the beginning of the pandemic attracts the greed of hackers who increase attempts to steal accounts, banking information and even some game items that can be resold. Minecraft and Roblox are the most targeted games.
The video game industry has benefited tremendously from pandemicpandemic, and many people have turned to online games to pass the time during various lockdowns. The global market for video gamesvideo games it is expected to exceed 200 billion dollars in 2022. In a new relationshipantivirus publisher Kaspersky has noticed a sharp increase in attacks specifically targeting online gamers.
The company analyzed the threat data its company detected SoftwareSoftware looking for references in a list of 28 popular games, including Minecraft, Roblox, You need speed, Grand Theft Auto OR call of Duty. The number of attacks against these games increased by 13% in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.
Theft of passwords, bank details, game items…
Pirates especially offer free versions of the games they include malwaremalware as well as mod (modifications or extensions of the game), tricksor game-related tools. The main type of malware is a download which goes unnoticed because it only serves to download other malware.
The attacks aim in particular at stealing identifiers and PasswordsPasswords gaming accounts as well as the bank information used for payment. Some even include adwareadware or even cryptocurrency mining programs that affect game performance.
Kaspersky has also detected a large number of cases of phishingphishing with fake sites that imitate the game site or in-game store and offer fake benefits or items. Once the victim tries to identify himself, the hackers gain access to his account and can recover any means of payment on file and even resell game items which can sometimes be very valuable. To protect yourself, follow the usual recommendations: always check the address of a site before logging in, download games from an official catalog (SteamSteam, GoogleGoogle Play, the App shopshop FromAppleApple…) and enable two-factor authentication.
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