Gacha game hacked to deliver spyware, offers free pulls as an apology
Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- PCWorld reports that the Duet Night Abyss game launcher was compromised by the “Umbral Stealer” keylogger spyware targeting the standalone update system.
- The hack affects a game with one million registrations, putting player data at serious risk of identity theft despite developers’ mitigation efforts.
- The developers have proposed in-game compensation for the security flaw, highlighting the growing need for robust antivirus protection among PC gamers.
If you are a dedicated player of Abyss Night DuoYou might be wondering why your PC’s antivirus blew up following the latest game update a few nights ago. And if your antivirus hasn’t blown up…then it might be time for a scan. The developers have confirmed that the game’s launcher was hacked to deliver keylogger spyware.
On March 18, the players of a Abyss Night Duo subreddit posted Windows Defender logs showing that the “Umbral Stealer” Trojan was detected following the game’s latest update. The developers confirmed the “malicious attack,” posting a log of their initial alerts and their resolution, as well as upcoming mitigations.
At the end of the statement, the development team said that the game will send “Commission Manual: Volume III*5, Prismatic Hourglass*10”, which Kotaku reports equal 10 random skins for characters. Which is fine, I suppose, but won’t be much comfort to someone whose identity was stolen because a keylogger obtained their bank account login information.
Abyss Night Duo is a free gacha game in the same vein as GenshinImpactavailable on Windows, Android and iOS. I hadn’t heard of it before, but apparently it’s racked up a million signups since it launched late last year. And apparently, this isn’t the first time it’s been hacked. A hacker apparently broke into the update system a few weeks ago and launched a much less malicious attack, simply alerting users to developer Pan Games’ outdated security systems, along with some additional editorial comments.
Abyss Night Duo is available to download and play through Steam, but the attack appears to have targeted the game’s standalone updater and launcher. Yet Steam itself has become an increasingly juicy target where PC gamers are logging in and downloading games by the millions. Free and early access games are apparently the most susceptible to infection.
Advice: If your PC is still unprotected without proper antivirus measures, you should install something while you can. Check out our selection of the best free Windows antivirus apps and the best paid antivirus for Windows.
