As expected, the international success of the Netflix series Squid Game it immediately became an excellent bait for the spread of cyber threats. The confirmation comes from Kaspersky’s team of experts who today shared the latest findings regarding the most common and sophisticated threats related to Squid Game. In particular, Kaspersky, between September and October 2021, detected several dozen dangerous files that mention the name of the Netflix series.
The Squid Game series has already become a cyber threat
In most cases, Kaspersky has found out Trojan-downloader capable of installing malicious programs. Also of note is the discovery of several Trojans and adware. Among the most used scam schemes is the one that promises users to view a fake online game from the series to launch a hidden Trojan.
Kaspersky also discovered a malware mobile which made the user believe they were downloading an episode of the series. Also worth mentioning many fake Squid Game related stores, with the aim, in particular, of taking advantage of the Halloween period (the costume of the series has become very popular in a short time). There is also an online version of the game that steals user identification data and downloads malware to the device.
Kaspersky’s comment
Anton V. Ivanov, security expert di Kaspersky, points out: “It was only a matter of time before Squid Game became a successful new lure. As with any other trending topic, cybercriminals know how to exploit them. In fact, we detect many phishing pages every day offering to purchase costumes from the series or inviting users to play the show’s games online. Of course, victims end up losing data, money and installing malware on their devices. It is very important that users always check the authenticity of the websites they visit to stream series or to purchase merchandising “