Whenever something is successful, and has users behind it, hackers are there looking for ways to take advantage of it. Online games, of course, are an excellent source of potential victims, allowing these hackers to carry out all kinds of deception and hacking to steal user data, distribute malware, and much more. Therefore, it is always necessary to take extreme precautions when we use this type of product. Especially if we are players, casual or professional, of any of the titles that we are going to see below.
Hackers take advantage of online games because they open many doors for them to carry out possible attacks. Among others, the most common that we can find are:
- Fake websites that promise rewards and actually steal player data.
- Fake in-game product stores that steal money.
- Cheat tools that actually hide malware.
- Fake installers, activators and key generators for pirted games that hide viruses.
- Modified versions of the game to spy on users or distribute computer threats.
According to a new report by Kaspersky, the most common viruses used in computer attacks against gamers are:
- not-a-virus:Downloader – malware used to download other more dangerous malware on the PC, such as ransomware or cryptocurrency mining programs.
- not-a-virus:AdWare – its goal is to display advertisements on the computer.
- Trojan – the usual Trojans, to take control of the PC and steal data.
The games most attacked by hackers
Obviously, not all games are of equal interest to hackers. And it is that, depending on their theme, and their target audience, they can be more or less striking. According to the Kaspersky report, the titles that have raised the most interest in the last year among hackers are the following:
- Minecraft -> Released over 23,000 different threats to its players. Affected more than 131000 players.
- FIFA -> with more than 10700 malicious files distributed on the network. Affected more than 26800 players.
- Roblox -> 8900 different files and pieces of malware. Affected more than 38800 players.
- Far Cry -> with 8700 malicious files found on the net. 18,500 players affected.
- Call of Duty -> 8300 malicious files and virus variants for its players. 30,000 victims of hackers in this title.
Other games that have also been very popular among hackers have been the sagas of Need for Speed, GTA, Valorant, The Sims and CS:GO, among others. Curiously, Fortnite is not on the list of the games most attacked by hackers, despite being one of the games that maintains the most monthly players.
How to protect ourselves: basic tips
As almost always, the way to protect ourselves from most of these computer attacks is to be legal. Pirtes take great advantage of video game pircy, as well as cheaters or those who seek to modify, without permission, games to gain an advantage over others. Therefore, if our game is legal, we have downloaded it from a trusted store, and we do not cheat, we can forget about most of these dangers.
The other dangers arrive massively through the Internet: by mail, on social networks, etc. They are what we know as phishing, and they seek to deceive us to, for example, give us free objects or coins. Common sense, in these cases, is the best ally.
