It is safe to say that most players have cheated in a game at least once in their lifetime. Cheating can be innocent – you are not hurting anyone when tricking the NPCs in Grand Theft Auto by using unlimited ammo and health. In the end, those cheat codes were built into the game for a reason.
It is not so innocent when you use cheating software to get an unfair competitive advantage over your opponents in multi-player modes, though. And these are the exact gamers who now might pay for their “sins”, quite literally.
TechCrunch reported that Activision Blizzard is investigating a malware campaign targeting Call of Duty players using third-party apps such as cheats, according to the anonymous source with knowledge of the situation. Reportedly, the regular gamers should be safe.
The details of the hacking campaign are currently unknown. The hackers are finding a way to gamers’ computers where the malware steals passwords to their online accounts – not just those related to gaming.
Activision spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that the game developer is indeed aware of the problem “across the broader industry” linked to downloads of unauthorized software. However, it insists that the company servers were not compromised.
The campaign was most likely uncovered in the cheating software community by a developer with the nickname Zeebler. He claims the hackers apparently use a well-known tactic where a downloaded software pretends to be a legitimate tool, while in reality – unknowingly to the user – it executes malicious activities in the background.
The campaign is the latest reminder that you should always be aware of fraudsters online, especially if you are downloading unofficial software, even if its purpose is not to cheat on your gaming peers.
As part of good “digital hygiene”, the very basic, yet key measures are to use different credentials across your online accounts – that’s where password manager comes in handy – and activate two-factor authentication where available.
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