FBI investigates malware-laced games on Steam

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the US federal law enforcement agency, has launched an investigation into a hacker suspected of publishing several video games laced with malware on Steam, the popular digital distribution platform for PC games. In an announcement released on Friday, the agency stated that it is looking for victims who may have been infected by the malicious software. The FBI is seeking to identify and contact users who downloaded and installed these specific titles, which were hosted on the Steam store but embedded with malware.

The investigation focuses on a series of titles developed over the last two years. The FBI suspects these games were created by the same cybercriminal and hosted on the Steam store while secretly embedded with malware. In its announcement looking for victims who may have been infected, the agency listed the following games suspected of being developed by the same cybercriminal over the last two years, hosted on the Steam store but embedded with malware:

• BlockBlasters
• Chemia
• Dashverse/DashFPS
• Lampy
• Lunara
• PirateFi
• Tokenova

This incident highlights a recurring security vulnerability for Steam and its owner, Valve. It is not the first time hackers have successfully hosted malware on the digital marketplace. Last year, hackers published several games on the platform that contained malware. Although those games were functional, if a bit rudimentary, the goal of the developer or developers was to act as a Trojan horse to trick gamers into installing malware on their computers. Steam took the games down, but an unknown number of people were infected in the meantime.

Valve and the FBI did not respond to requests for comment.

Why it matters

The FBI’s involvement underscores the persistent security risks on major digital marketplaces, where bad actors can exploit platform trust to distribute malware to unsuspecting users.