Various Malware Lurks in Discord App to Target Gamers

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A rise in online gaming, tied to pandemic-mandated social distancing, has led to a spike in criminals targeting the demographic. The latest effort to exploit the trend is malicious files planted inside the Discord platform designed to trick users into downloading malware-laced files.

Researchers report multiple active campaigns targeting the Discord “cdn[.]discordapp[.]com” service designed to trigger an infection chain and serve-up the Epsilon ransomware, the data-stealer Trojans and the XMRrig cryptominer, according to a report by Zscaler ThreatLabZ. Attackers also are using the service for command-and-control (C2) communication, researchers observed.

Discord group-chatting platform originally built for gamers and has evolved to become a virtual watering hole for socializing. The app is used by gamers and alike for creating communities on the web, called “servers,” either as standalone forums or as part of another website. Discord supports voice, video, or text – allowing all to interact within created communities.
 
Discord–like myriad other chat and online communication platforms–has seen an uptick in use. This has put a bullseye on Discord and other virtualized communities by hackers who see them as ripe targets for abuse.
 
“During 2020, research showed a sharp increase in game downloads, and this activity did not go unnoticed by cybercriminals,” according to the ThreatLabZ. “Attackers have often exploited the popularity of certain games (Among Us was a recent example) to lure players into downloading fake versions that served malware.”
 
While planting malware in Discord is not a new activity, researchers discovered a number of novel campaigns using various known malware to lure gamers from within the platform.

Read more: https://threatpost.com/various-malware-l...rs/163867/