‘Gaming’ Malware

You are exploring the Wild West – at every turn there are grisly town hangings, gunfire ambushes, and reckless gambling sprees. All of this is just part of a day’s work. What actually stops you in your tracks is, when you’re suddenly warned that you have a dangerous virus – a computer virus, that is.

Hackers recently exploited the popular Wild West-themed computer game Red Dead Redemption with scareware. While scareware seems strangely appropriately for a game that thrives on danger, this malware was not part of the amusement. In fact, this is the latest in a string of video games to become prey for malicious software.  

While games being infected with malware is nothing new, the problem is gamers are sometimes reluctant to install antivirus software on their PCs for fear of slowing down their machines and hampering their gaming experience. But as gaming grows from a niche activity to an all-out national pastime, gaming malware could proliferate rapidly unless we step up and protect ourselves. Already we’ve seen popular social games, like Zynga, have become targets of malware and phishing scams.

And here’s the good news. Being protected doesn’t mean turning your computer into a brick anymore. That’s the outmoded desktop-approach to antivirus. Immunet Protect’s cloud-based protection installs less than 10 megs on your PC --- the lightest in the industry. All detection will happen virtually in the cloud, not on your desktop -- so your gaming experience won’t be weighed down. For those who are already protected, Immunet will give you an added layer of essential protection , still without slowing down your PC.

As we’ve mentioned here before, we’re launching a stellar new product next week that takes cloud AV protection to the next level. Stay tuned for more details. And in the meantime, be a friend to Immunet, and promote our new website (also coming next week) with a free Immunet Badge.