Even Steam Has Malware Now
Scammers are getting increasingly clever about injecting apps with malware. Certainly it's nothing new that malicious apps are littered across the internet, but lately they've been popping up with alarming frequency even in theoretically safe spots like the Google Play Store and even Apple's App Store. Malware is even showing up on Steam, serving as a reminder that we all need to be careful with each and every app (or game) we choose to download onto our devices.
As reported by GameRant, Valve recently removed a title called PirateFi from Steam. Created by developer Seaworth Interactive, the game was free to play, and was advertised as a survival adventure that let players fish and swim, with both single player and co-op mode. The game was only released on Feb. 6 of this year, meaning it was active on Steam for less than one week.
Why the removal? Steam claims the game's developer uploaded versions of the game to Steam that included suspected malware. Steam has since removed those builds, as well as the game itself, but if you happened to play the game while these builds were active, Steam says its likely your PC was infected with malicious code.
Luckily, the scope of the situation was small, relatively speaking: It appears only about 1,500 people actually downloaded the game, which is fewer than many malware scares in recent memory. Moreover, Valve reached out to affected players directly, warning them of the likely malware problem.
SteamDB shared Valve's message to PirateFi players in a post on X. As part of this message, Steam is warning players they should completely reformat their PC's OS to make sure they scrub their machine of malware entirely.
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It seems some players who were affected were acutely aware of how malicious the game was. One negative review claimed the game emptied their Steam wallet to buy Dota 2 skins, while another claims most of their accounts were hacked after installing the game.
A troubling trend
Still, that this occurred at all is troubling. Usually it's safe to download apps and games from official sources like app stores—especially Steam. It's almost unheard of that a game on Valve's store would be malicious. It's even rarer than finding malicious apps on Apple's stores, which, while uncommon, do slip past the company's defenses every now and then.
Do I expect more malicious games to pop up on Steam? Not necessarily. In fact, Steam might bolster its security even more following this event. Still, these kinds of situations are a good reminder that, truly, you can never be too careful online.
What to do if you played PirateFi
If you installed PirateFi on your PC, you should delete it as soon as possible. Steam recommends running an antivirus scan of your machine to root out any potential malware, and to look for any new software you don't recognize: Malware tends to install new programs and files to run in the background, so make sure to uninstall anything you know you didn't install yourself.
You may want to consider changing passwords on your accounts, as well. While regularly changing passwords isn't necessary, this malware may have obtained the passwords of your accounts, which puts your accounts at risk. To be extra secure, you may want to reformat your PC entirely—though this is obviously the most intensive solution.
Again, encountering malware on Steam is quite rare, but it's still worth exercising caution whenever downloading new titles on the store. Make sure to inspect the pages for new games before installing them: Look at the images and the description to see if the game is delivering on what's being advertised. Importantly, check reviews: If there are too many negative ratings, or too few ratings at all, it might be best to skip the title altogether.