Minecraft hit by more malicious apps, reveals Kaspersky; Google Play Store reacts and slaps bans

In what will come as a big shock for gamers, it has been revealed that scammers are using malicious apps to exploit the Minecraft game, which is one of the most popular games in this segment and the gaming community swears by its ability to deliver a thrilling performance. However, the more popular a game, the more attention it grabs of fraudsters as they can target a much larger number of people for their nefarious purposes. Cybersecurity company Kaspersky has now revealed that Minecraft modpacks and a file recovery utility available on Google Play Store were concealing malicious adware.

Kaspersky has made this disclosure and it comes after it had earlier red-flagged as many as 20 malicious apps on app stores that were then removed. They were luring gamers to download these apps with promises of providing additional Minecraft features. However, the story does not end there as new malicious apps have been found. Kaspersky has been able to identify more such apps that are hijacking social media credentials or spreading adware. Kaspersky said, "Minecraft-themed malware continues to pop up in Google Play."

How Minecraft Modpacks impact gamers

What these Minecraft modpacks can do is amazing and a real reason to worry for gamers and most importantly, taking action against them is important. According to Kaspersky, "The apps were totally useless from a user perspective. Instead, after the first run they hid their icons and repeatedly opened the browser to flash ads."

Not just that, the company added, "They could also play videos from YouTube, open Google Play app pages, and more."

What Minecraft users can do

Kaspersky also revealed how helpless users may feel because they could not do anything against it. It said, "The version we analyzed, for example, opened the browser every two minutes, rendering the device essentially unusable. The thing was especially troubling, because it was extremely hard to figure out what was going on, which app was responsible for the troubles and how to stop it."

So, what to do? Minecraft players who just want to increase the thrills they get or want to experiment with something new, should be extremely careful about what they download and from which source. Users should know that their safety is in their own hands. They should also know that the makers of these malicious apps manage to change them a little after they are banned from play stores and upload them again. So, they have to be extremely careful they do not fall for the lures being offered in the first place and make sure they don't download any suspicious Minecraft modpacks.

Action taken

Kaspersky had notified Google about this find and the good thing is that these malicious apps were removed from Google Play Store.