Cheaters never prosper, as they say, but hackers? Hackers are raking it money thanks to Warzone, according to a new report from Activision Blizzard.
The 26-page report goes into great detail about how hackers are disguising malware as Warzone cheats and then advertising them online. The software will ask the unsuspecting Warzone player to disable their security protections including anti-virus and firewalls, basically providing the hacker with a clear path to install whatever they want on the cheating player's system.
Specifically, the report notes a March 2020 hacker that posted a "newbie-friendly" and "effective" method of spreading trojans (called "Remote Access Trojans (RAT)" in the report.
"The actor’s suggested method for convincing the victims to disable their protections is made significantly easier by advertising their RAT as a video game cheat," wrote Activision. "It is common practice when configuring a cheat program to run it with the highest system privileges. Guides for cheats will typically ask users to disable or uninstall antivirus software and host firewalls, disable kernel code signing, etc."
The bad actor posted on several hacking forums where they got 10,000 views and 260 replies. They posted their method to a black hat hacker forum advertising it as an easy way to make money since you could charge potential Warzone cheaters a subscription fee to download the hacker's virus.
Once installed, the virus provides the hacker with remote access, basically letting them take over the system to do whatever they wanted. This could include stealing passwords, bank and credit card info, or literally anything. Even if the cheater realizes that the cheat they installed isn't working as advertised and deletes it, this doesn't get rid of the virus that was downloaded along with it.
There's no shortage of suckers looking to get an edge in Warzone, so this method of finding people willing to download a virus just to win a game can be highly effective. Just one more reason to stay away from cheat software.