The number of landing to malicious site directed by daily active users has increased by 54 per cent which have exploited the gaming theme in April as compared to January, said cybersecurity firm Kaspersky according to abplive.
As gaming industry witnessed a uptick in terms of growth and revenue during the lockdown cybercriminals have been exploiting he surge as their advantage says the report. Users are often lured by promises such as free versions of popular games, updates and extensions, or cheats, Kaspersky said this week. However, if users click on these links, a wide variety of malicious programs can be downloaded, from password-stealing malware to ransomware and miners, software that secretly mines cryptocurrency from the victim’s computer.
The most targeted games by criminals was Minecraft, Kaspersky said, on its name, more than 130,000 web attacks have been recorded. Other most popular games used in attacks were Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and The Witcher 3, it added.
“Many of these video game-related attacks are not particularly sophisticated; there is a large user component to their success. The past few months have shown that users are highly susceptible to falling for phishing attacks or clicking on malicious links when it comes to games – whether they’re looking to find pirated versions or eager for a cheat that will help them win,” Kaspersky security expert Maria Namestnikova, said in a statement.