As people are looking for ways to unwind at home, the gaming industry has been one of the primary places people set their eyes on. Not only is it a way to entertain yourself for hours on end, but it is also a place for people to connect, which is otherwise hard to do during the pandemic.
According to data presented by the Atlas VPN team, 303,827 individuals’ devices were affected by gaming-related malware and unwanted software between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021.
Mobile games are also a major threat for gamers. As many as 50,644 users attempted to download 10,488 unique files disguised as the ten most-played mobile games, generating a total of 332,570 detections.
Minecraft, made by Mojang, was by far the most popular game on both PC and mobile platforms for dangerous app distributors to hide behind. On PC, nearly 185 thousand users were affected with over 3 million malware and unwanted software detections. On mobile, the number of victims exceeds 44 thousand for the period. Unwanted software includes files like adware, spyware, and so on.
There are various versions of Minecraft and a plethora of mods (modifications that may be placed on top of the basic game to diversify gameplay) may account for its enormous popularity. Because mods are unofficial and developed by users, they can be used to hide dangerous payloads or undesirable software.
Another one of the most well-known game titles worldwide, The Sims 4, was the second most often used title to distribute unwanted files. Over 43 thousand users were impacted, with detections closing in on 1.3 million.
PUBG, the online multiplayer battle royale game known to most gamers, is third on the list, with close to 27 thousand players affected and upwards of 484 thousand detections. PUBG mobile is also among the titles most commonly used to mask malicious software on smartphones and tablets. Around 1.5 thousand users were impacted, and 9 thousand detections were uncovered by Kaspersky antivirus software.
