In order to deceive users into downloading and executing malware, hackers utilized a well-known video game for kids created by Mojang Studio, which impacted a total of 131,005 gamers.
Hackers Use Minecraft to Spread Malware
Minecraft is the video game title that is being abused the most by cybercriminals, according to a report from Bleeping Computer. Attackers use the video game that kids often play to convince naive gamers to download and execute malware, according to the results of research done by information security professionals.
Kaspersky, an endpoint security and consumer IT security software company, found that hackers exploit Mojang Studios' video game affecting 131,005 people. This was the direct effect of the assaults carried out by hackers utilizing 23,239 files between July 2021 and June 2022, according to MSPoweruser.
According to the information obtained by the security company, files associated with Minecraft made up around 25% of all potentially harmful files that were spread via the inappropriate use of gaming brands.
With a total of 2,406 copies distributed, Minecraft continues to be the most popular mobile bait. Despite the fact that fewer files with the title may be potentially dangerous or offensive, the issue remains persistent.
Following Minecraft, 1% of files related to FIFA has emerged. Aside from such, Far Cry (9.4%), Call of Duty (9%), Roblox (9.5%), and Roblox (9.9%) documents were also indentified. At the same time, the video games like Need for Speed, Valorant, and GS: GO saw large percentages of actors abusing their accounts.
In the mobile market, Kaspersky observed distribution quantities that were much lower than those found in the PC gaming market, and Minecraft remains the category leader with a forty percent share.
Read Also: Meta's New VR Headset Will be Revealed During Connect Conference Next Month
Cheating Minecraft Gamers in Japan was Attacked by a Ransomware
In line with Minecraft's vulnerability issue, PC Gamer published a story in November 2021 that a firm with a forte in cybersecurity named Fortinet stated that dishonest players of the Japanese version of Minecraft paid the repercussions of their actions.
This is because a Chaos variety of malware designed to infect Wannabe hackers presented itself as a list of compromised Minecraft accounts and affected several gamers. It had the potential to corrupt all hard drives and off the recovery option in Windows, making it impossible to retrieve lost data.
If a victim failed to make the necessary payment of 2,000 yen or $17, the ransomware would damage any data smaller than 2 megabytes. As payments, the attackers also looked for prepaid cards with various purposes, including one that could pay for streaming services. In addition, they also demand that it should be capable of supporting e-shopping and gaming, amongst other things.
On the other hand, when the malware is opened in files with more than 2 gigabytes in size with various extensions, victims could have had their contents replaced with a random sequence of bytes.
Unfortunately, only minor data may be retrieved, even if the victim pays the requested payment. These are files with a size of under 2 megabytes.
Despite this being alarming, Fortinet noted a hilarious aspect of the issue as the attackers apologized for any inconvenience and informed their victims in a ransom letter that they were only reachable on Saturdays.
Related Article: Mojang Adds Technoblade Tribute to Minecraft's Loading Screen After Streamer's Death
