Grand Theft Auto IV, the hugely popular computer game, has been targeted by hackers to spread Trojans designed to steal personal information.

Hackers claim to offer free downloads for versions of the hit car chase game, which sold six million copies in its first week.

They use peer-to-peer networks (P2P) such as Limewire to spread Trojans via the fake links. Trojans are programs that gain backdoor access to PCs to steal personal data or sensitive information like bank details.

"The only thing that many gamers can think of at the moment is Grand Theft Auto IV and hackers are using that interest to try to generate chaos as quickly as they can," said John Safa of software security company DriveSentry.

Mr Safa, who is a former hacker, said he found evidence of Trojans on file-sharing network Limewire within two minutes of logging on. He advised surfers to treat links offering downloads and pug-ins with extreme caution.

"I would urge anybody to tread very carefully around these links, as some links are designed to look official – or even better invest in a good anti-virus package that is capable of protection from the latest threats for their computer," added Safa.

Anti-spam service ClearMyMail also recently said that much of the unsolicited email it is seeing at the moment is GTA-related.

GTA IV was released on 29 April and sold a recording breaking 3.6 million copies on its first day.

www.drivesentry.com

Back to index