Recently a security conference in Taiwan called Hacks in Taiwan uncovered a malware infestation of some game installers.
Trend Micro, working with Hacks in Taiwan, have created and published a cleaning tool after collaborating on the problem.
Evidence of the malware
So what happened? It appears that a malware installer known as PlugX somehow was inserted into the patch servers of Asian software distributor, Garena. While the attack only ended up affecting a small overall number of users in the region, it was difficult to detect due to the way that PlugX would overwrite the infected installer with a clean one after infecting a computer. Affected games included League of Legends and Path of Exile, but Garena does distribute many more including Heroes of Newerth, Fifa Online and MStar Online. Garena has partnerships with game developers such as Riot Games, S2 Games, and Electronic Arts, allowing the company to have exclusive releases to certain games which almost certainly made them a tempting target.
Fortunately for any readers in the region, Trend Micro have given Garena a clean bill of health stating that their patchers have been free of malware since the start of the new year.
The full report of the Trend Micro actions with Hacks in Taiwan can be found here for the technically minded amongst you.
