Minecraft users are being targeted by criminals posing as game coders online.
Analysts tracked two pieces of malware spread by what appears to be Russian gangs on the code-sharing site GitHub, , according to cybersecurity firm Check Point.
Its researchers said: “The malware is developed by a Russian-speaking threat actor and contains several artefacts written in the Russian language.”
Thousands of Minecraft users have already been tricked into using the malware, which is designed to steal from bank accounts, cryptocurrency wallets, browsers and other computer applications.
Graeme Stewart, head of public sector at Check Point, said it was similar to the way “gangs operate to take down retail… they create this and then they flood it out to people and people then use it”.
He described them as “modern-day bank heist guys”.
“They’re just in it for the money,” he said. “They’re scraping these details from Minecraft to get into people’s crypto wallets, trying to steal bank details, trying to commit bank fraud.”
The hacking software is hidden within the code of Minecraft modifications, which are pieces of code that allow users to change the game.
Minecraft allows users to modify the game as they play – players can do anything from fixing bugs to changing how the game looks.
But when players download the malicious code and place it into their Minecraft application, they don’t get the ability to create “funny maps” or modify the game as promised.
Instead, the next time they load Minecraft, the malware will trigger, and soon, “it will start actively stealing data”, according to Mr Stewart.
“Most people have…
