18/02/2025
A hacker published a PC game on Steam to infect users with Windows-based malware.
The free-to-play game, PirateFi, was released on Thursday. Days later, Valve was spotted sending out a message to affected users, warning them about the threat to their computers.
“We strongly encourage you to run a full-system scan using an antivirus product that you trust or use regularly, and inspect your system for unexpected or newly installed software,” Steam said.
PirateFi was published as a beta. However, according to Steam forum posts, one user noticed something was off when their antivirus software prevented them from running the game, flagging it as carrying "Trojan.Win32.Lazzzy.gen."
"The essence of the virus: When you launch the ‘game,’ the virus unpacks into /AppData/Temp/****/ and looks like Howard.exe," the user wrote. The malware then appears to steal browser cookies, enabling the malware’s creator to hijack access to various online accounts.
Additionally, PirateFi was also circulated on the messaging app Telegram, according to a reader, who said: "Somebody in the channel that I was in sent a message that they had a in-game chat moderator vacancy that would pay 17$ an hour."
The job offer was placed in a Telegram channel that US users frequented. The reader thought the offer was too good to be true, so they investigated and uncovered evidence that a bot was actually running the Telegram account. "I've noticed that the speed of his replies were very consistent, almost always 21 seconds," the reader added. "I was messaging with an AI that was trying to get people to download the game on their devices to infect their computers."
More at PCMag
https://www.pcmag.com/news/did-you-download-this-steam-game-sorry-its-windows-malware