Hackers have started targeting gamers looking for cheats for popular video games, tricking them with an ad to get some improvements, instead introducing ‘malware’ into their computer as Activision warns.

The developer and distributor have shared a report on a new tactic, ‘Cheating Cheats: Distributing Malware as Calcutta Cheats’: To Pass As a Trap to Call of Duty: Warson is actually a ‘dropper’, a type of ‘malware’ that makes it very harmful to access your computer.

In particular, this report explores Code Dropper v0.1 ‘Dropper’ and goes back to March 2020, when a series of announcements about a new method of distributing known remote access Trojans were identified in various ‘hacker’ forums. As RAT, its abbreviation is in English.

Unlike other, sophisticated distribution methods, this ad is aimed directly at fraudulent gamers because this type of ‘software’ requires the removal of certain security barriers, such as antivirus or ‘firewall’, and maximum privileges on the system.

The ‘dropper’ included in the report is specifically aimed at Call of Duty: Warson Players – a free multiplayer – and a hidden trap in forums, which the game’s anti – cheating systems do not detect.