Malicious users have spammed the popular Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (also known as CS:GO) popular game showcasing several weaknesses that can arise.
CS:GO Innocent Spam Can Lead To Dangerous Virus Infections
Computer games abuse can lead to dangerous viruses. The latest reported incident has been the case of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). Spammers have attacked the game’s lobby with large walls of text. The problem does not lie in the fact that this has happened, but that Valve has not removed the text in time. Within a day of the incident a Valve staff member has explained that they have created a “temporary solution” with a permanent fix coming in the next weeks.
The problem lies in posting walls of spam text which may not seem like something serious. However abuse can happen and here are some of the case scenarios that can be caused by malicious users:
Hackers can link to dangerous sites by posting messages that pose as coming from Valve. As a result the victims can get infected with dangerous viruses or other types of malware.
If the spam attack is initiated by a botnet network it can potentially be used to take down the game’s servers.
According to user reports the person (or group) behind the attack may be of Russian origin. The spam controllers have posted several videos on online sites showing how various bots and malicious JavaScript code has been used to infiltrate game lobbies. Other hacks include the modification of a player’s rank to display “Global Elite” status which is the highest possible in the game. The responsible actors have published their scripts which makes it possible for anyone to copy the attack until the complete game patch is released to everyone.
Online computer games are a popular place for spreading dangerous viruses. Competitive shooters like CS:GO employ chat rooms and groups (also known as clans) where interactive conversations can be happen. Over the years security experts have been notified of dangerous viruses that are distribute via social engineering tricks done via such communication channels. It is very likely that such attempts may be performed even now as the wider public can get access to the dangerous scripts which can spam the popular game. We expect hackers to target other popular titles as well, especially those that are commonly featured among competitive gaming competitions.
We will continue to watch this incident and report all changes accordingly.
