ChromeLoader Malware Targeting Gamers by way of Fake Nintendo and Steam Game Hacks

Feb 27, 2023Ravie LakshmananBrowser Security / Malware

A brand new ChromeLoader malware marketing campaign has been noticed being distributed by way of digital exhausting disk (VHD) information, marking a deviation from the ISO optical disc picture format.

“These VHD information are being distributed with filenames that make them appear as if both hacks or cracks for Nintendo and Steam video games,” AhnLab Security Emergency response Center (ASEC) stated in a report final week.

ChromeLoader (aka Choziosi Loader or ChromeAgain) initially surfaced in January 2022 as a browser-hijacking credential stealer however has since advanced right into a stronger, multifaceted risk able to stealing delicate knowledge, deploying ransomware, and even dropping decompression bombs.

The major purpose of the malware is to compromise internet browsers like Google Chrome, and modify the browser settings to intercept and direct site visitors to doubtful promoting web sites. What’s extra, ChromeLoader has emerged as a conduit to perform click on fraud by leveraging a browser extension to monetize clicks.

Since arriving on the scene, the malware has gone by a number of variations, a lot of them geared up with capabilities to interrupt into each Windows and macOS methods. The shift to VHD information is one more signal that the marketing campaign has gone by many modifications over the previous few months.

The an infection chain signifies that customers in search of pirated software program and online game cheats are the primary targets, resulting in the obtain of VHD information from fraudulent web sites showing on search outcomes pages.

Some of the sport titles and widespread software program used are Elden Ring, Dark Souls III, Red Dead Redemption 2, Need for Speed, Call of Duty, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Odyssey, Microsoft Office, and Adobe Photoshop.

“When a VHD file is downloaded by this course of, the person can simply mistake the malicious VHD file for a game-related program,” ASEC researchers stated. “Disguising malware as sport hacks and crack applications is a technique employed by many risk actors.”

To mitigate such dangers, it is really useful that customers chorus from following suspicious hyperlinks and obtain software program solely from official sources.