Following a report from a gamer via the forum Steama has been identified malware spread through the famous video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The same, it later turned out to be a worm which automatically spreads through some hacked online lobbies.
The malicious agent in question, present in the online malware repository of VirusTotal it shook the game community which, despite its release year (2009), can still boast several regular gamers.
The spokesman of Activision, Neil Woodcommented via tweet what happened: “Multiplayer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) on Steam has been disabled while we investigate reports of an issue“. At present, however, Valve has not released any kind of statement on the matter.
Call of Duty targeted by malware that spreads in an unusual way
The worm in question appears to spread automatically through online lobbies from one infected player to another. This means that hackers must have found and are exploiting one or more bug in-game to execute malicious code on gamers’ computers.
According to a website that tracks the number of players engaged on various titles, there were approximately 600 users on the game when the servers temporarily shut down.
Although the video game-malware combination is not uncommon, the case involving Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has several unique aspects. First, the malicious agent is not connected in any way to cheat o pirated copies of the same. Secondly, we usually talk about trojan while, as already mentioned, this case concerns a worm.
Of course, to avoid trouble, gamers are advised to adopt and keep active during gaming sessions a antivirus high profile.