In response to reports that reveal cyber criminals are distributing a powerful form of trojan malware to victims by disguising it as a launcher for one of the world’s most popular video games, security experts commented below.
Cyber-criminals are using an imitation Epic Games launcher to deploy the LokiBot trojan – https://t.co/X0TvYH7wxH
— LAUNCH Ticker (@launchticker) February 18, 2020
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Phishing attacks are the most common and arguably the most effective way in which criminals compromise systems. The most effective ones have an emotional hook which entices the recipient into clicking on a link or downloading a file.
This emotion could be fear-based, such as a threatening email from law enforcement, or appeals to the sympathetic side, like a charitable organisation. Or it relies on greed, where it entices people with promise of goods such as unreleased movies, songs, or games. Therefore, it is no surprise that criminals are leveraging the success of the most popular games in order to get users to download and run malicious programs.
Users should always be wary of files they download and links they click on, especially when they aren\’t from the official website. When in doubt, don\’t click or download, especially if something looks too good to be true.
With a popular game being targeted, the criminals are going after young children, or teens that play the game to get them to click on a link to update or get the latest features for their game. In reality, they are using it to trick them info infecting their computers. They\’re going after the younger generation because they may not be as aware of the various ways they can be socially engineered by the criminals.
While the adults are hopefully getting security awareness education and training about phishing, social engineering at work, it\’s important to make sure they share the information in at home and with their children. If they get emails about clicking a link to update the game software, it\’s best to open the game and complete if any updates.
The cyber criminals are getting more creative with their attack vectors as they target computer games played by children in the hopes of getting them to click on a link so the child can get the latest upgrade packs of weapons, magic potions and loot!