Fake Game of Thrones Video Files Embedded with Malware

For many people, Game of Thrones Season 8 is the TV highlight of the past 12 months, but not all fans of the series are keen to pay for the channel to watch the latest installments of this hugely popular series.

Some fans are turning to P2P file sharing sites to download the latest episodes, but hackers are ready and waiting. Many illegal video files of Game of Thrones episodes have been embedded with malware, most commonly adware and Trojans.

Research from Kaspersky Lab revealed Trojans to be the most common form of malware to be embedded in rogue video files. A third of all fake TV show downloads that have been impregnated with malware include a Trojan.

When one of these infected files is opened after it has been downloaded, the Trojan is launched and silently runs in the background on the infected device.

Many of the Trojans embedded into video files are brand new. These zero-day malware variants are not detected by traditional AV solutions as their signatures are not present in malware definition lists. That means malware infections are likely to go undetected. When signatures are updated, the malware may continue to run until a full system scan is completed. Either way, during the time that the malware is active it could be collecting a range of sensitive data including usernames and passwords.

Malware can also be installed that gives the attacker access to an infected device and the ability to run commands, change programs, download further malware variants, and add the infected device to a botnet.

File sharing websites offer an easy way of distributing malware. Users of the platforms voluntarily download the files onto their computers. However, only a small percentage of internet users visit P2P file sharing sites. Hackers therefore have turned to other methods to get users to execute their infected video files.

Prior to the release date of Game of Thrones Season 8, offers of free access to the TV show were being distributed via email. Campaigns were also detected offering episodes in advance of the release date to tempt GOT fans into installing malicious software or visiting malicious websites.

It is no surprise that fake Game of Thrones video files have been embedded with malware, given the huge popularity of the show. However, Game of Thrones fans are not the only people targeted using this tactic of malware distribution. In the past few months, malware has been detected in fake videos files claiming to be the latest episodes of the Walking Dead, Suits, and the Vikings to name but a few.

Some people feel the risk of a malware infection from downloading pirated video files to be low, or they do not even consider the risks. That is bad news for businesses. When employees ignore the risks and download illegal files at work, they risk infecting their network with malware.

The easiest solution to prevent illegal downloads at work and the visiting of other malicious websites is to use a web filtering solution. A web filter – WebTitan for instance – can be configured to prevent users from accessing file sharing and torrents websites. WebTitan uses a continuous stream of ActiveWeb URLs from over 550 million end users, which provides important threat intelligence to TitanHQ’s machine learning technology. This allows new, malicious URLs to be identified, and users are then prevented from visiting those malicious URLs.

Blocking email attacks is simple with SpamTitan. SpamTitan blocks 99.97% of spam emails to prevent malicious messages from reaching end users, including messages offering free access to Game of Thrones and other TV shows. In addition to dual AV engines to protect against known malware, SpamTitan also now has a sandboxing feature. Suspicious attachments can be safely executed and analyzed in the sandbox to identify potentially malicious actions. The sandboxing feature provides superior protection against zero-day malware which AV software does not block.

With both of these solutions in place, businesses will be well protected against malware, ransomware, botnets, viruses, and phishing attacks.

Each solution is available with a range of different deployment options to suit the needs of all businesses. For a product demonstration and further information, contact the TitanHQ team today.