These Are Nine Favorite Games Infiltrated By Czech Mountain Spirits

JAKARTA - Recently, the Czech Republic cybersecurity company, Avast, published an investigation conducted by their Threat Laboratory on the discovery of a new malware called Crackonosh hidden in crack games.

Malware has been found in cracked versions of these games including NBA 2K19, Grand theft auto V, Far cry 5, The Sims 4 Seasons, Euro Truck Simulator 2, The Sims 4, Jurassic World Evolution, Fallout 4 GOTY, Call of Cthulhu, Pro Evolution Soccer 2018, We Happy Few.

Gamers nowadays have to be more careful. Gamers should seriously consider if they want to play "pirated" versions of their favorite video games.

The games are indeed the favorite of gamers around the world with very high download and install rates. The game is a favorite because it promises a fun playing experience for gamers.

To get the official and paid versions of these games is indeed quite draining your pocket. Especially for teenage game enthusiasts. It's no wonder that to get the game, many gamers choose the pirated version.

But behind the nine pirated versions of the favorite games, there is a danger lurking because the Crackonosh malware is implanted.

This is a malicious crypto mining program. The program takes its name from Czech folklore meaning "Mountain Spirit" and has been circulating since June 2018.

According to the investigation, this malware has generated more than two million dollars in Monero cryptocurrency, originating from more than 222.000 infected systems worldwide. Avast even warned that in Mexico Crackonosh had infected 2.200 systems.

The majority of users infected with Crackonosh came from Brazil, the United States, India, the Philippines, and Poland, with an average of between 12 and 19 thousand infected systems per country.

Crackonosh spreads by getting into "cracked" versions of popular online games. Hacked versions are pirated copies of games that people download to save them from having to pay for the original version.

Malware has been found in cracked versions of these games including NBA 2K19, Grand theft auto V, Far cry 5, The Sims 4 Seasons, Euro Truck Simulator 2, The Sims 4, Jurassic World Evolution, Fallout 4 GOTY, Call of Cthulhu, Pro Evolution Soccer 2018, We Happy Few.

When Crackonosh is installed, it looks for ways to protect itself, so it replaces important files on the Windows system. Then they removed some security programs like Adaware, Bitdefender, Escan, F-secure, Kaspersky, Mcafee (scanner), Norton, and Panda.

"Crackonosh is very profitable for attackers and warns of the risks of downloading cracked software. As long as people continue to download cracked versions of software, these types of attacks will continue to benefit their creators", said Daniel Benes, malware researcher at Avast.