A popular game-making thing called Godot Engine is being used in a sneaky way by some bad guys for a new GodLoader malware thing, and it's been messing with over 17,000 computers since like, June 2024. It's like they're using this cool game platform to hide their naughty code and slip it into people's devices without getting caught by the usual antivirus stuff.
Check Point, who are like the detectives of the computer world, said in a new report that came out on a Wednesday, that these cyber-crooks are using the game engine to run some shady GDScript, which is a programming language for games. This script does bad things like giving the hackers control and letting them spread their nasty malware without anyone knowing.
It's not weird that these internet baddies are always looking for new toys to play with that can help them get around the defenses we put up to keep them out. They've picked Godot Engine because it lets you make games that work on all sorts of stuff like Windows, Mac, Android, consoles, and even the web.
What's super shady is that they're using this thing called the Stargazers Ghost Network, which is basically a bunch of fake GitHub accounts and repositories that make it seem like the malware is totally fine to use. They've done this four times already, and they're aiming for game developers, gamers, and just regular people.
The malware comes in these files that end with .PCK, and it's really good at hiding and not getting caught by antivirus programs. It can even tell Windows's built-in antivirus to ignore it so it can do its dirty work. And get this, they've mostly been attacking Windows computers, but they could totally do the same thing to Mac and Linux too if they wanted.
The people who make Godot Engine are obviously not happy about this, so they said you should only download stuff that's been signed by someone you trust. It's like checking if your snack is sealed before you eat it so you know it hasn't been tampered with. They also said that any programming language can be used to do bad stuff, so it's not just Godot's fault.
This whole situation is like a big reminder that we gotta be super careful where we get our software from. It's like buying a phone that looks real but turns out to be a dud. You wanna stick to the good stuff from the right places, you know? And it's not just about keeping our computers safe, it's about keeping the whole game world safe too. It's pretty crazy how these hackers are using a game-making tool to cause trouble across all these different systems. It's like a supervillain using Legos to take over the world, but instead of Legos, it's game code. So yeah, stay safe and keep an eye out for shady downloads, folks.