Good game, well played: an overview of gaming-related cyberthreats

guest · Sep 6, 2022

by Kaspersky - September 6, 2022

The gaming industry went into full gear during the pandemic, as many people took up online gaming as their new hobby to escape the socially-distanced reality. Since then, the industry has never stopped growing. According to the analytical agency Newzoo, in 2022, the global gaming market will exceed $ 200 billion, with 3 billion players globally. Such an engaged, solvent and eager-to-win audience becomes a tidbit for cybercriminals, who always find ways to fool their victims. One of the most outstanding examples involves $2 million‘s worth of CS:GO skins stolen from a user’s account, which means that losses can get truly grave. Besides stealing personal credentials and funds, hackers can affect the performance of gaming computers, infecting these with unsolicited miner files.

In this report, we provide the latest statistics on cyberthreats to gamers, as well as detailed information on the most widespread and dangerous types of malware that players must be aware of.
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Key findings

The total number of users who encountered gaming-related malware and unwanted software from July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022 was 384,224, with 91,984 files distributed under the guise of twenty-eight games or series of games;

The TOP 5 PC games or game series used as bait in the attacks targeting the largest number of users from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 were Minecraft, Roblox, Need for Speed, Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty;

The number of malicious and unwanted files related to Minecraft dropped by 36% compared to the previous year (23,239 against 36,336), and the number of affected users decreased by almost 30% year on year (131,005 against 184,887);

The TOP 5 mobile games that served as a lure targeting the largest number of users from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 were Minecraft, Roblox, Grand Theft Auto, PUBG and FIFA;

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In the first half of 2022, we observed a noticeable increase in the number of users attacked by programs that can steal secrets, with a 13% increase over the first half of 2021;

In the first half of 2022, attackers cranked up their efforts to spread Trojan-PSW: 77% of secret-stealing malware infection cases were linked to Trojan-PSW;

Malware and unwanted software distributed as cheat programs stand out as a particular threat to gamers’ security, especially for those who are keen on popular game series: from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 we detected 3,154 unique files of this type that affected 13,689 users;

Miners pose an increasing threat to gamers’ productivity, with Far Cry, Roblox, Minecraft, Valorant, and FIFA topping the list of games and game series that were used as a lure for cyberthreats; 1,367 unique files and 3,374 users who encountered these files from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022.

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guest · Sep 8, 2022

Minecraft, FIFA, and Roblox have the most gaming-related cyberthreats
Far Cry players should watch out for cryptojackers
By Rob Thubron - September 7, 2022

In a nutshell: If you play a lot of Minecraft, Roblox, Need for Speed, FIFA, GTA, or COD, you might be one of the 384,224 people who encountered malware or unwanted files related to those titles between the start of July 2021 and the end of June 2022.

A new report from cybersecurity giant Kaspersky examines cyberthreat-related data shared by its users, narrowing the scope to PC and mobile games. The researchers looked at the prevalence of malicious files and unwanted software related to certain titles, along with the number of users attacked by these files.
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The game with both the largest number of unique malicious files and impacted users was Minecraft. Kaspersky found 23,239 malicious files associated with the world's best-selling game, and 131,005 users were impacted during the year-long period.

In terms of unique malicious files, FIFA (10,776) was next on the list, followed by Roblox (8,903), Far Cry (8,736), and Call of Duty (8,319). Franchise games such as Far Cry and CoD refer to the entire series.
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Downloaders, commonly used to load other threats onto infected devices, remained the most common type of unwanted file by far, accounting for a massive 88.5% of cases. It was followed by AdWare (4.2%) and Trojans (3%).

Malicious cryptominers, aka cryptojackers, [...] Surprisingly, the Far Cry series had the most related files and affected users in this area.
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Kaspersky concludes with the usual recommendations on how to protect yourself from these threats: enable two-factor authentication wherever possible, use unique passwords (preferably a password manager), download from trusted platforms and sites, and watch out for phishing emails.
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Minecraft is hackers’ favorite game title for hiding malware
By Bill Toulas @billtoulas - September 6, 2022

Security researchers have discovered that Minecraft is the most heavily abused game title by cybercriminals, who use it to lure unsuspecting players into installing malware.

Based on stats collected by the security firm between July 2021 and July 2022, Minecraft-related files accounted for roughly 25% of malicious files spreading via game brand abuse, followed by FIFA (11%), Roblox (9.5%), Far Cry (9.4%), and Call of Duty (9%).
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On the mobile space, Kaspersky recorded much smaller distribution volumes than those seen on PC gaming. Yet, Minecraft dominates this category, too, with a 40% share, followed by GTA (15%), PUBG (10%), Roblox (10%), and FIFA (5%).
Why hackers use games as lures
Some recent examples of hiding malware in packages promoted as game cheats, installers, keygens, or as the games themselves are the following:

Minecraft alt lists on gaming forums dropping Chaos ransomware

NPM packages posing as Roblox libraries delivering ransomware and password stealers

Games clones on the Microsoft Store containing malware loaders

Valorant cheats promoted via YouTube dropping info-stealing malware

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The reason why hackers leverage game titles to lure people is mainly the massive targeting pool, as the abused game titles attract the interest of tens of millions of people.

Finally, because many game-related mods, cheats, and tools are made by unofficial one-person projects and face false positive security detections, many developers warn victims to disable antivirus before installing them.
Due to this, gamers may ignore AV warnings and execute detected malware programs on their systems.
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Good game, well played: an overview of gaming-related cyberthreats

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