Hackers are infecting Call of Duty players with a self-spreading malware

Hackers are using a worm to infect players of an older version of Call of Duty called “Modern Warfare 2” in online lobbies. The worm automatically spreads from one infected player to another. A user on a Steam forum warned others about the hackers using “hacked lobbies” and advised running an antivirus. The malware responsible for the attack has been analyzed and identified as a worm based on its code. Even an industry insider confirmed the presence of worm-like characteristics in the malware.

Activision, the company behind Call of Duty, acknowledged the issue through a tweet on their official updates account, which prompted them to take the game’s multiplayer offline for investigation.

The motive behind the hackers spreading this malware remains unclear. However, it is evident that they are exploiting bugs in the game to execute malicious code on the computers of other players.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, released in 2009, still has a small but active online player community. At the time of reporting, approximately 600 people were playing the game online.

The Steam platform, operated by Valve, did not respond to requests for comment on the situation.

While malware distribution through video games is not unheard of, it usually involves trojanized game installers or cheat software. This particular incident stands out due to the use of a worm to spread the malware automatically among players in the game’s online lobbies.