#team malware

Valve recently removed a game from Steam after discovering it was laced with malware designed to steal gamers’ sensitive data. The game, called PirateFi, was not just an innocent title that had been compromised—it was built from the ground up as a Trojan horse to distribute the powerful Vidar infostealer malware. This game-making software, which costs between $399 and $1,099 to license, gave hackers an easy way to deploy their malware within what appeared to be a legitimate product. According to Marius Genheimer of SECUINFRA Falcon Team, the malware was not an afterthought but the game’s primary purpose. The Vidar malware is an advanced infostealer capable of exfiltrating vast amounts of data from infected computers. What makes Vidar particularly dangerous is its availability through the malware-as-a-service model, meaning it can be purchased and used by even low-skill cybercriminals. Researchers found multiple samples of the malware embedded in PirateFi, including one uploaded to VirusTotal by a gamer in Russia, another identified through SteamDB, and a third located in a threat intelligence database. However, the fact that PirateFi was able to make it onto Steam in the first place raises concerns about the potential for similar attacks in the future. Read more in our articles including "Hackers Planted Malware in a Steam Game to Steal Gamers’ Passwords—Here’s What Happened" and "Steam Summer Sale Guide (2017): The best deals so far".