A mysterious flood of malware has been attacking video gamers, stealing their login credentials and draining their Bitcoin wallets. This malicious campaign is reportedly part of a new data-stealing operation targeting those who use cheating software in games. The situation has rapidly escalated into one of the largest malware incidents ever hitting the gaming community.
The malware information repository vx-underground sounded the alarm on Mar 28 via a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). They stated that a ‘currently unidentified Threat Actor’ is deploying malware to infiltrate the accounts and steal gamers’ login information and other sensitive data utilizing paid cheating tools and software.
These attacks have successfully compromised over 4.9 million user accounts across several major gaming platforms and services. The companies impacted include Activision Blizzard and its massive Battle.net game store, the game trading site ElitePvPers, and two prominent cheat software sellers: PhantomOverlay and UnknownCheats.
Impacted users have begun reporting that someone is draining their Electrum Bitcoin wallets. We do not have any information on the amount of money stolen,” vx-underground grimly reported in their post.
Bitcoin Theft: Gaming Community Hit by Massive Malware Attack
On Mar 27, PhantomOverlay responded to the situation in a Telegram post. They claimed that the reported number of hacked accounts “are inflated” as over half of the logins in a database they viewed “are invalid garbage.” However, they acknowledged this was “the largest infostealer malware campaign in gaming/cheating community history.”
PhantomOverlay theorized that the malware “seems to be an entire network of free/cheap software” originating from “some latency program, VPN, or something that millions of gamers are using.” In a separate post, they stated having “a pretty good idea of where the malware is coming from” but that the malicious actors were aware of suspicions about them, making conclusive proof difficult.
Activision Blizzard has contacted PhantomOverlay about the incident and stated, “We will help assist millions of infected users.” An Activision spokesperson also told the crypto publication that their servers “remain secure and uncompromised” and recommended all users change their passwords to ensure account protection.
According to vx-underground, PhantomOverlay was first alerted to potential foul play when they noticed user accounts making unauthorized purchases on their platform. After contacting the affected user, they soon identified many compromised accounts falling victim to this malware.
The full extent of the damage and number of victims is still being investigated. However, it is already one of the most widespread and damaging malware attacks ever to hit the video game industry and its surrounding culture of cheat software. Gamers and cheaters alike have had their data and cryptocurrency wallets plundered by this devious malware campaign.
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