How To Avoid Viruses From Minecraft Upgrades

Forty percent of mobile malware cases involved Minecraft as a lure, followed by five percent each involving FIFA, Roblox, PUBG, and GTA.

Introduction

Since millions of people began playing video games as a way to pass the time during the COVID-19 quarantine, the video game industry has emerged as one of the most prominent beneficiaries of the epidemic. In the years afterwards, the gaming business has grown exponentially, and studies show that Minecraft cybercrimes and attacks involving video games have increased dramatically in recent months.

Kaspersky’s latest analysis provides evidence that criminals are using Minecraft and other popular games to lure users into phishing scams and malware downloads. A quarter of all harmful files were associated with Minecraft, FIFA (11%), Roblox (9.5%), Far Cry (9.4%), and Call of Duty (9%), according to data collected by the security firm between July 2021 and July 2022.

Abuse was also seen in a noticeable percentage across other gaming titles, including Grand Theft Auto, Need for Speed, and The Sims. Forty percent of mobile malware cases involved Minecraft as a lure, followed by five percent each involving FIFA, Roblox, PUBG, and GTA. The Kaspersky analysis, however, shows that dangerous and unwanted Minecraft files have decreased by 36% since last year (131,005 against 184,887).

Minecraft — Game Over

Acquiring games from unknown websites exposes users to the risk of downloading malware that can be used to steal personal information such as passwords. Also, players frequently lose both money and accounts when they try to download games illegally in search of mods or cheats.

According to Kaspersky, criminals are collecting user credentials using Trojan-PSW (Password Stealing Ware), financial data using Trojan-Banker,Minecraft and gaming account credentials using Trojan-Game Thief. There were 3,705 unique malicious files that affected 6,491 people between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022, as discovered by the Kaspersky protection solution.

What Safety Measures Can We Take?

Because of the quick growth of the gaming industry, it is essential that players take measures to protect themselves from the various new kinds of malpractice that are certain to appear. Take into consideration the following information if you would like to play video games without being concerned about your safety.

• Protecting your account from unauthorised access requires both a robust password and two-factor authentication.
• When you want to play your games, you should stick to using legitimate download sites like Steam, the PlayStation Store, or Origin.
• Because phishing scams are so frequent, you should exercise extreme caution before clicking on any links that come to you via email or in-game chat.
• Check to check that the URL appears to be genuine before providing any login credentials when prompted to do so.

Maintain regular updates for your operating system and all other software.