According to some forecasts, it is likely that The global gaming industry will grow by about 11%, or $209 billion However, this promising sector of technology is facing piracy, where significant sums of money can be lost.

Pirating a video game consists of “hacking” it so that anyone can use it to bypass digital rights management, although downloading a pirated video game is no longer as easy as downloading it on disc, as many times the risks outweigh the benefits. Attempting to install a broken header. These are some of the results.

malware

One technique that has worked very well for cybercriminals is Spreading Malware Through Explicit GamesWhat they actually do is use a famous game name and phrases associated with downloads or free content to grab the attention of Internet users.

Usually, these types of publications promising popular free video games can be found on social networks, they are sent as messages on Whatsapp or They even rank very well in browser search results, leading people to believe that they are legitimate sites.

Cybercriminals typically design their malware to evade computer security systems, but as part of their plan, they can ask a potential victim to disable their computer’s anti-virus in order to allegedly download a game.

Curiously, a 2021 study found that over two years, approximately 3 million computers were infected with a Trojan virus hidden in one of the game piracy campaigns carried out by attackers, criminals in that case. managed to steal more than a million email addresses and 26 million passwords and usernames to access different types of platforms.

Types of malware commonly distributed by pirated games include:

Cryptocurrency malware

They are used to exploit infected computers as Cryptocurrency Miners Without any kind of permission or knowledge from the owner, consuming the processor power of the devices and even damaging them completely.

Banking Trojans

As their name suggests, they are designed to steal financial data from people and entities.

Keyloggers

These computer viruses have the ability Identify the keys that users typeSo, in this way, access codes to personal email accounts, banks and other types of people are stolen.

Ransomware

This malware can steal and hijack data on a computer or block access to it and then ask the victim for money in exchange for regaining access to the systems.

botnet

With this virus, the computer will be completely lost as the attackers will take full control over it to carry out more attacks on other users on the Internet.

Adware

Eset warns that it is not as dangerous as malware, but it will be very annoying for computer or mobile phone users as it will flood them with invasive and static ads, thus limiting their ability to use the device.

In 2020, Google had to remove 21 games from its official app store that contained ads that produced this malware. Intrusive advertising and sometimes explicit content.

The game will not work as expected

You might be lucky that no virus was downloaded to your device when you tried to install a pirated game, but The title may not work correctlyIt will never open, be incomplete, or be incompatible with your computer’s operating system.

Ban on video game platforms

This is especially true for video game consoles, as their developers have the ability to do so Track pirated software and identify which device it’s on, blacklist it along with the account associated with the server.

Get an unwanted visit from the police

It’s no secret that downloading various pirated programs is a daily bread on the Internet, even the majority of Internet users had to do it at some point and did not go to jail for it. But over the years the rules regarding this practice have become stricter and it would be very unfortunate if a “well-behaved citizen” has to answer for this situation.

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