Unity is merging with a company who made a malware installer
Unity, the company behind the multiplatform game engine of the same name, announced it has entered into an agreement to merge with IronSource(opens in new tab). «If you don't know ironSource,» Unity's statement reads, «they bring a proven record of helping creators focus on what creators do best – bringing great apps and user experiences to life – while enabling business expansion in the app economy.»
IronSource is also well-known for another reason. It developed InstallCore, a wrapper for bundling software installations. If you've searched for a popular program and seen a link to a third-party site with a URL that ended in something like «downloadb.net» or «hdownload.net» it may well have been InstallCore. If you made the mistake of downloading it, you'd be offered the kind of extras with generic names like RegClean Pro and DriverSupport an unsophisticated user might click OK on, which is how you end up with a PC full of toolbars and junk that's as slow as your parents' is. InstallCore was obnoxious enough Windows Defender will stop it running(opens in new tab), and Malwarebytes(opens in new tab) too.
As documented by Microsoft's chief economist for web experience, strategy, and policy Ben Edelman(opens in new tab), InstallCore was also behind a fake installer for a Windows version of Snapchat, a program that's only ever been available on mobile. It would instead install Android emulator BlueStacks, as well as the usual injection of adware.
Game developers who use Unity are less than thrilled about the merger. Andreia Gaita(opens in new tab), who runs game porting studio Spoiled Cat, tweeted that, «A game engine is the thing that you use to build and distribute games to devices. The vendors of those devices, like Apple,
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