News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

Spies target gamers with malware inserted into software updates, ESET says

Gamers are familiar targets for hackers, but those operations often are broadly aimed at stealing data, installing nuisances like adware or disrupting the games themselves.
Sometimes, though, attackers have other things in mind.
A malware operation in Asia appears to be “highly targeted” toward spying on only a handful of users of a popular piece of gaming software, according to cybersecurity researchers at Slovakia-based ESET. The attackers compromised the update mechanism for NoxPlayer, an emulator program that allows Android games to be played on PCs and Macs, ESET says.
It’s a supply-chain attack, not unlike others with much bigger footprints and much larger geopolitical effects. The perpetrators appear to have broken into infrastructure at Hong Kong-based BigNox, which makes NoxPlayer, to add the malware to the updates that go to customers.
...
Those victims are based in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka.
It’s unclear who’s running the spy campaign, which ESET is calling Operation NightScout, and what they might want.

So far it doesn't seem to affect the Western world but be wary of such heinous attacks, guys.  We don't know when this group might target any other country or game or emulator app.