How you can get robbed while playing. Top of the most popular PC games used as camouflage for malware attacks

This increased volume can be linked to the rapid evolution of gaming during the pandemic. The data comes from Kaspersky's latest cyber threat report, in which researchers assessed changes in gaming threats during the pandemic. The gaming industry has seen unprecedented growth over the past 18 months, in part, due to the fact that users had to find alternative means of entertainment while staying at home. Even though the world has become more secure this year, the demand for games persists, and the industry is expected to grow further, reaching a potential peak of USD 175.5 billion by the end of 2021. With this in mind, Kaspersky researchers have conducted a detailed review of the various game-related threats that its users have faced throughout the pandemic - from potential attacks on PCs and mobile phones to phishing schemes. To get a clear picture of the trends, Kaspersky analyzed malware and unwanted software attacks disguised as the 24 most popular PC games and the top 10 mobile games in 2021. The results showed that game-related cyber threats on PC have increased since the lockdown period in Q2 2020, reaching 2.48 million detections worldwide - a 66% increase compared to Q1 2020 when only 1.48 million attacks were detected. Interestingly, the number of attacks and affected users dropped sharply in Q2 2021 - to only 636,904 attacks. Mobile games showed a slightly different trend, with the number of affected users increasing by 185% at the beginning of the pandemic, from 1138 users in February 2020 to 3253 users in March 2020. In addition, the number of users trying to relax by playing games on their phones mobile did not decline significantly after the two waves of the pandemic, showing an average of only a 10% decrease in attacked users per month in Q2 2020 compared to Q2 2021. This demonstrated that mobile threats have remained attractive to cybercriminals, even as travel restrictions have been lifted around the world. If we talk about popular games, Minecraft topped the charts for both PC and mobile games, being the game most often used to mask the distribution of unwanted software and malware. Such an overwhelming popularity of Minecraft can be explained by the fact that there are several versions and a multitude of mods - additional modifications that can be installed throughout the game to diversify it and create a new gaming experience. Mods are usually user-created and unofficial, providing a perfect camouflage for malware or unwanted software. From July 2020 to June 2021, 36,336 Minecraft disguised files were distributed. They affected 184,887 PC users and led to 3,010,891 infection attempts, which represents almost half of the files and attacks detected during this period.

Name of the game	Users	Detections	Files
Minecraft	184887	3010891	36336
The Sims 4	43252	1266804	5844
PUBG	26724	484528	10360
Fortnite	14702	267598	6109
Grand Theft Auto V	14261	187114	4953

Top five PC games most often used as camouflage for malware and unwanted software distribution globally, Q3 2020 - Q2 2021While most files distributed under the guise of games were downloaders - programs capable of downloading other programs to infected devices - and adware, occasionally both PC and mobile users faced much more serious threats, including Trojan-Stealers designed to to steal cryptocurrency data. and other valuable data, banking trojans and even backdoors.

Left: This phishing page offers to download PUBG mobile, but all the user gets is unwanted software. Right: a fake PUBG app actually, a trojan that collects user data

"We have seen a clear effect of the pandemic on the number of gaming threats. As more people chose to spend their time with certain games, more and more users encountered threats disguised in games. Two popular ways of distributing threats were phishing pages and warez sites. On the one hand, a multitude of phishing pages appeared that targeted users of various gaming platforms, many of them being very difficult to distinguish for ordinary users. On the other hand, there were warez sites - thus, we tracked a well-coordinated campaign that distributed a dangerous dropper through such sites, affecting users in 45 countries", comments Anton V. Ivanov, researcher of security at Kaspersky. "With the development of in-game goodies and coins, the gaming industry is becoming increasingly profitable and attractive to cybercriminals. But the biggest risks associated with gaming threats are related to the loss of account data - whether it's login details for a gaming account or, even worse, banking applications or cryptocurrencies." "All in all, exclusively using official stores to download games and being vigilant when looking at game-related content are essential for a safe experience," adds Anton.

To be safe while accessing certain games, Kaspersky experts recommend:

• Using strong passwords – one for each account. You can do this with Kaspersky Password Manager to facilitate the use of secure passwords. That way, even if one of the accounts gets hacked, it won't compromise the others. It is safer to avoid using the same password for online games that you use for other services• Download applications only from official stores such as Apple App Store, Google Play or Amazon Appstore. The apps on these markets are not 100% safe, but at least they are checked by store representatives and there is a filtering system - not every app can get into these stores • Avoid buying the first thing that comes your way. Even during Steam's summer deals, try to at least read a few reviews before paying for an unknown title. If something is dubious, people will probably notice, and this will appear in user comments• Do not click on links to external sites, received in the game chat and carefully check the address of any resource that you prompts you to enter your username and password; the page may be fake• Avoid downloading pirated programs and other applications with illegal content. Even if you are redirected to that web page from a legitimate site• Use a strong and reliable security solution that helps you a lot, especially if it doesn't slow down your computer while you play. It will protect you from all possible cyber threats. We recommend Kaspersky Total Security - works seamlessly with Steam and other gaming services • Use a complex security solution to protect yourself from malicious software and its actions on mobile devices - such as Kaspersky Internet Security for Android .