FBI seeks victims of Steam video games old school to unfold malware
Data breach
The FBI is asking avid gamers who installed Steam titles containing malware to provide data as half of an ongoing investigation into eight malicious video games uploaded to the gaming platform.
In a scrutinize printed this day by the FBI’s Seattle Division, the company said it is making an try to title those who had been affected after placing in surely one of the most malicious video games on Steam between Could well 2024 and January 2026.
“The FBI’s Seattle Division is seeking to identify potential victims installing Steam games embedded with malware. The FBI believes the threat actor primarily targeted users between the timeframe of May 2024 and January 2026,” reads the eye.
“In the investigation, several games have been identified to include, BlockBlasters, Chemia, Dashverse/DashFPS, Lampy, Lunara, PirateFi, and Tokenova.”
“If you and/or your minor dependent(s) were victimized from installing one of these games or have information relevant to this investigation, please fill out this short form.”
The questionnaire means that the FBI is centered on cryptocurrency theft and account hijacks after the set up of the malware, asking questions about cryptocurrency transactions, compromised accounts, and stolen funds.
The absorb also asks for any screenshots of communications with those who promoted the video games, which could reduction investigators video display the stolen cryptocurrency and ticket it to americans who distributed the malware.
“The FBI is legally mandated to identify victims of federal crimes it investigates. Victims may be eligible for certain services, restitution, and rights under federal and/or state law. All identities of victims will be kept confidential,” the FBI suggested BleepingComputer.
“The website and email listed in the mass notifications sent on March 12, 2026, are official and authorized by the FBI. At this time, the FBI is unable to provide specific details beyond the information referenced on the website in the email notification to customers.”
The FBI could be asking anyone who’s conscious of any individual who could had been affected to reduction them to submit an inquiry to Steam_Malware@fbi.gov.
BleepingComputer also sent questions to Valve in regards to the investigation, nonetheless failed to salvage a reply to our electronic mail.
Data breach Malware hidden in Steam video games
Multiple malicious video games discovered on Steam over the final two years possess distributed data-stealing malware designed to harvest credentials, cryptocurrency wallets, and varied sensitive recordsdata from players’ devices.
One of many most considerable cases entertaining BlockBlasters, a free-to-play 2D platformer on hand on Steam from July to September 2024. While before the entirety uploaded to Steam as a mighty program, cryptodrainer malware used to be later added to the game.
The malicious game on Steam
News that the Steam game used to be malicious used to be printed all the very top intention through a livestream by video game streamer Raivo Plavnieks (RastalandTV), who used to be raising money for cancer remedy.
After downloading the verified Steam game, the streamer reported losing extra than $32,000 from his cryptocurrency wallet.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT later estimated that attackers stole roughly $150,000 from 261 Steam accounts. Cybersecurity researcher VX-Underground later reported a elevated count of 478 victims.
Within the malicious Chemia survival crafting game, a threat actor acknowledged as EncryptHub added the HijackLoader malware, which downloaded the Vidar data stealer. It used to be later discovered that the game also installed EncryptHub’s custom Fickle Stealer malware, which steals credentials, browser recordsdata, cookies, and cryptocurrency wallets.
The PirateFi game also distributed the Vidar infostealer and used to be on hand on Steam for about per week in February 2025. Up to 1,500 customers could possess downloaded the game before it used to be eradicated from Steam.
Steam later warned players who launched the game that malicious recordsdata could had been completed on their computers and informed them to hurry antivirus scans, evaluate installed utility, and establish in mind reinstalling their working gadget.
