• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

Qilin ransomware claimed responsibility for the attack on the beer giant Asahi

 | 

DragonForce, LockBit, and Qilin, a new triad aims to dominate the ransomware landscape

 | 

DraftKings thwarts credential stuffing attack, but urges password reset and MFA

 | 

Redis patches 13-Year-Old Lua flaw enabling Remote Code Execution

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

GoAnywhere MFT zero-day used by Storm-1175 in Medusa ransomware campaigns

 | 

CrowdStrike ties Oracle EBS RCE (CVE-2025-61882) to Cl0p attacks began Aug 9, 2025

 | 

Discord discloses third-party breach affecting customer support data

 | 

Oracle patches critical E-Business Suite flaw exploited by Cl0p hackers

 | 

LinkedIn sues ProAPIs for $15K/Month LinkedIn data scraping scheme

 | 

Zimbra users targeted in zero-day exploit using iCalendar attachments

 | 

Reading the ENISA Threat Landscape 2025 report

 | 

Ghost in the Cloud: Weaponizing AWS X-Ray for Command & Control

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 65

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 544 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

GreyNoise detects 500% surge in scans targeting Palo Alto Networks portals

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Smartbedded Meteobridge, Samsung, Juniper ScreenOS, Jenkins, and GNU Bash flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

ShinyHunters Launches Data Leak Site: Trinity of Chaos Announces New Ransomware Victims

 | 

ProSpy, ToSpy malware pose as Signal and ToTok to steal data in UAE

 | 

Google warns of Cl0p extortion campaign against Oracle E-Business users

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Malware
  • Security
  • Almost all game hacks are infected with malware

Almost all game hacks are infected with malware

Pierluigi Paganini April 17, 2013

Security worldwide community is alarmed by the explosion of number of cyber threats that are becoming even more sophisticated and are exploring new channel to infect a larger number of machines for various purposes, from cyber espionage to the realization of complex fraud.

Antivirus company AVG has published an interesting study on games hacks that are responsible for the diffusion of malware, the firm warns that over 90% of hacked or cracked games downloaded via file-sharing sites are infected with malicious code.

Malware authors exploit the habit of players to download the ‘hacks’ for their favorite game, typically to gather a pirated copy. The AVG security team analyzed scores of the hacks and cracks found through Metasearch services such as FilesTube and FileCrop discovering the impressive infection rate, the report states;

“Even if we assume that just 0.1% of the gamers playing the top five titles go looking for a hack – a highly conservative estimate – that means 330,000 people are potentially at risk of falling victim to game hack malware, which could lead to the loss of any legitimate, paid-for gaming assets, as well as sensitive personal data such as bank details and email or social media passwords.”

The costs to sustain is often too high for youngster and passionate players that prefer to acquire free pirated ‘cracked’ games, license key generators (keygens) and game hacks such as patches and cheats.  Of course these applications represent a profitable business fir cybercrime that finds a way to spread malware without special efforts, the players infect themselves.

Official IT world suffers double loss, the loss of earnings for the gaming industry and the costs relating to the spread of malware.

“This could lead to the loss of any legitimate, paid-for gaming assets, as well as sensitive personal data such as bank details and email or social media passwords.”

The methodology followed by researcher is simple as efficient, they performed a series of searches for popular game Diablo 3 hacks obtaining more than 40 hacks.

“In a quick test, AVG’s researchers searched FileCrop for a Diablo 3 hack, one of the most popular ‘swords and sorcery’ games on the market. The FileCrop search result listed more than 40 hacks, all temptingly titled to encourage users looking for the greatest in-game rewards and benefits. For the biggest titles, such as World of Warcraft or Minecraft, a similar FileCrop search reveals hundreds of hacks.”

Unpacking the download file the AVG researcher detected malicious code hidden in the application downloaded.

FileCrop_games

The study concluded suggesting to gamer best practices to follow to prevent infection:

  • DO NOT download cracks, hacks, trainers or unofficial patches.
  • DO download patches only from the official game provider’s website.
  • DO vary your login details. Use different usernames and passwords for every game account, even in game forums.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – Malware)


facebook linkedin twitter

AVG cyber espionage cyber threats hacks malware

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini October 08, 2025
Qilin ransomware claimed responsibility for the attack on the beer giant Asahi
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini October 08, 2025
DragonForce, LockBit, and Qilin, a new triad aims to dominate the ransomware landscape
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    Qilin ransomware claimed responsibility for the attack on the beer giant Asahi

    Cyber Crime / October 08, 2025

    DragonForce, LockBit, and Qilin, a new triad aims to dominate the ransomware landscape

    Cyber Crime / October 08, 2025

    DraftKings thwarts credential stuffing attack, but urges password reset and MFA

    Security / October 08, 2025

    Redis patches 13-Year-Old Lua flaw enabling Remote Code Execution

    Security / October 08, 2025

    U.S. CISA adds Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

    Hacking / October 07, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT