Fake Minecraft updates are leaving thousands with infected PCs

techradar.com:

The number of video game-related cyberthreats and attacks has seen a significant rise in recent months, research has revealed.

New figures from Kaspersky suggests gamers should be on the lookout for a wide range of possible threats, from phishing scams to malware downloads masquerading as updates or bonus features.

But far from embracing the newest and most advanced gaming platforms and titles, it seems that criminals and scammers often choose something a bit more low-tech to target victims, with Minecraft found to be the most popular lure for security threats.

Kaspersky said that, when examining threats between July 2021 and July 2022, Minecraft was used for around a quarter (25%) of malicious files it detected, recording 23,239 incidents, followed by FIFA (11%), Roblox (9.5%), Far Cry (9.4%), and Call of Duty (9%).

Minecraft also topped the list of mobile malware threats, with the game being used as a lure for 40% of detected incidents, ahead of GTA (15%), PUBG (10%), Roblox (10%) and FIFA (5%).

However, Kaspersky noted that the total number of malicious and unwanted files related to Minecraft actually decreased by 36% compared to the previous year, with the number of affected users also falling by almost 30% year on year (131,005 against 184,887).

> Minecraft players are under attack — but it might not actually be all bad(opens in new tab) > How to create a Minecraft server on a VPS(opens in new tab) > Beware — those new Minecraft mods could be harmful malware(opens in new tab)

Overall, Kaspersky said it recorded 384,224 incidents of users encountering gaming-related malware and unwanted software over the monitored period, with 91,984 files distributed linked to twenty eight particularly popular games or series of games.

The