Super Mario video game downloads could install a Trojan

Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the popularity of Super Mario video games to distribute a Trojan horse via a legitimate installer, with the aim of stealing digital service credentials and mining Monero.

Super Mario 3: Mario Forever is an adaptation of the original game that Nintendo released in 1988 for SNES, which can be played on both mobile (Android, iOS) and computer (Windows, Mac).

This is not an official Nintendo game, and it can be found on secondary game download pages, for free, that do not have the protections implemented by official stores such as the Microsoft Store or the Nintendo eShop.

For this reason, from the cybersecurity company Cyble, they advise those who have downloaded the game for Windows to check if the computer contains ‘malware’, since they have detected a malicious campaign that takes advantage of the legitimate installer of this title to distribute a Trojan horse.

The fraudulent version contains the game installer and two executable files that are installed in the AppData directory of the victim’s computer, from where they steal information from the browser, screen or webcam, and start mining the monero cryptocurrency.

This Trojan hides itself from detection systems by making a duplicate that it saves in a hidden folder in the game, scheduling a task that runs that copy every 15 minutes, pretending to be a legitimate process, and deleting the original file. It also modifies the settings of antivirus systems so that they are no longer effective.

In case of carrying out a security check and detecting ‘malware’, it is recommended to eliminate it as soon as possible and reset the credentials of the most sensitive digital services. To avoid it, it is a good idea to install games from official stores and keep the operating system and applications installed on the computer up to date.

Source: dpa

(Reference image source: Nintendo / dpa)

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