PirateFi Game Removed from Steam Library for Pushing Malware

Valve removed an entry from their Steam library of games, suspecting it harbored data-stealing malware.

Valve removes troublesome entry in its library

PirateFi, a free-to-play game released last week, has been removed from Valve’s Steam game library because it hosted malicious code.

After removing it from the platform, Valve warned all potentially affected users that they might have surreptitiously infected their devices.

Reportedly, one user who downloaded the game had his accounts hijacked via stolen cookies.

Malware-ridden game promoted on Telegram

As PCMag reported, PirateFi was also promoted on the Telegram messaging app. Upon receiving a message regarding a chat moderator job for the game paying $17 an hour, a user suspected foul play and started investigating.

A closer look at the account posting the job offer revealed that the replies were evenly spaced, at 21 seconds, often a dead giveaway for automated accounts.

As expected, the job offer was non-existent. The AI chatbot enticed users interested in the job to download and install the game, as the fabricated job opening was for an in-game chat moderator.

PirateFi developer uploaded malware-ridden builds

Users who downloaded and played the title on Steam were encouraged to perform full system scans on their devices, check for newly installed software, and even format their machines.

“The builds containing the suspected malware have been removed from Steam, but we strongly encourage you to run a full-system scan using an anti-virus product that you trust or use regularly, and inspect your system for unexpected or newly installed software,” reads Valve’s email to impacted parties. “You may also consider fully reformatting your operating system to ensure that no malicious software remains on your machine.”

Warding off malicious software

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It boasts a wide range of features, including continuous, comprehensive monitoring and protection, network threat prevention, behavioral detection for active apps, multi-layer ransomware protection, and AI-powered scam detection.