More than 5.8 million malware and other software disguised as popular PC games were detected and prevented by Kaspersky from Q3 2020 to Q2 2021.
This was revealed by the latest game-related cyber threats report by the security giant, in which researchers assessed the changes of gaming-related threats during the pandemic, from potential attacks on PC and mobile to phishing schemes.
The company speculates that the growing volume of incidents could be attributed to the tremendous increase in gaming activities during global lockdowns brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Massive growth
On the whole, the gaming industry enjoyed massive growth over the past year-and-a-half, as people looked to entertain themselves while being forced to stay at home, and the demand for games hasn’t slowed down. In fact, a report by Newzoo predicts that the gaming industry is set to reach 175.8 billion USD by the end of this year.
Kaspersky looked at attacks with malware and unwanted software disguised as the 24 most popular PC games and the top 10 mobile titles of the year. The results revealed that PC game-related cyber threats skyrocketed with the introduction of lockdowns in Q2 2020, hitting 2.48 million detections worldwide – a 66% increase compared to the previous quarter, when 1.48 million attacks were found. Interestingly, the number of attacks and affected users declined sharply in Q2 2021 – to just 636 904 attacks.
When it came to mobile games the picture was slightly different, with the number of users impacted increasing by 185% at the start of the pandemic, from 1 138 users in February 2020 to 3 253 users a month later. In addition, the number of mobile phone gamers did not drop dramatically after the two waves of the pandemic, with on average a mere10% drop in users attacked per month in Q2 2020 versus Q2 2021.
This highlights how mobile threats remained compelling to bad actors even as lockdowns were being lifted across the globe.
Popular games
When it came to popularity, Minecraft came out tops for both PC and mobile categories as the one most often used by attackers to distribute unwanted software and malware.
The game’s popularity could be attributed to the fact that there are multiple versions and myriad modifications that can be installed on top of the game to diversify it and the gaming experience.
For the most part, mods are created by users and are unofficial, providing an easy disguise for malicious payloads or unwanted software. Throughout July 2020 to June 2021, 36 336 files disguised as Minecraft were distributed, affecting 184 887 PC users and resulted in 3 010 891 attempted infections, which is nearly half of the detected files and attacks during this period.
Attack vectors
Anton Ivanov, security researcher at Kaspersky, says the company saw the effect the pandemic had on gaming-related threats. “Two popular ways of threat distribution are phishing pages – there have been many targeting users of different gaming platforms, many of which are very hard to tell apart from real sites for regular users.”
Warez sites, or sites that distribute pirate software over the Internet, are another attack vector, he says. “Kaspersky has traced a well-co-ordinated campaign that distributed a dangerous dropper via warez, affecting users in 45 countries.”
Moreover, alongside the development of in-game goodies and currencies, the gaming industry is becoming even more profitable and attractive to bad actors. “Perhaps the worst risks associated with game-related threats is the loss of account credentials – be it login details to a gaming account or, even worse, banking or cryptocurrency applications”.
Sticking to official stores and staying vigilant when looking at game-related content is crucial for a safe experience, he ends.
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