In an unprecedented event, Chinese authorities have dismantled one of the most important groups in the world of videogame hacking, responsible for developing cheating software for many of today’s most popular games.
This operation, deployed by Kunshan Police also seized about $46 million USD in assets including cash, luxury cars, computers and jewelry.
This information was disclosed via Twitter by an account identified as Anti Cheat PD, linked to a platform managed by the gamer community to publicly identify and point out cheaters and software variants they use to affect other gamers. According to Anti Cheat PD, this operation was made possible by the collaboration of Kunshan police and Tencent, a controversial technology company based in China.
Reports indicate that the operation would have required about 12 months of investigation, resulting in multiple arrests and seizures that decimated the finances of this hacking group. It should be noted that this platform operated as a subscription service in which cheating players paid almost $40 a month to access all kinds of video game manipulation software, the use of which represents an unfair advantage over other players.
About the video games in which these hacks worked, it is mentioned that they were aimed at “battle royal” enthusiasts, including Call of Duty: Mobile, Valorant and Overwatch.
To the authorities’ surprise, this proved to be a highly profitable practice for hackers, as they are estimated to be able to earn up to $10,000 USD a day, which equates to an operation that accounted for illegal profits of more than $750 million USD.
For its part, the Chinese government claims that this is one of the most important anti-hacking operations in the world taking into account the amount of confiscated goods, the type of technology involved and the number of users who will notice an impact on the world of video games. Finally, the authorities say that they will continue to work with Tencent to form an anti-hacking group of video games, as the level of illicit profits generated by this practice makes it necessary for the authorities to intervene.
What do you think of videogame hacking? Do you really think this is a cost-effective cybercriminal practice? To learn more about information security risks, malware variants, vulnerabilities and information technologies, feel free to access the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS) websites.
He is a well-known expert in mobile security and malware analysis. He studied Computer Science at NYU and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2003. He is actively working as an anti-malware expert. He also worked for security companies like Kaspersky Lab. His everyday job includes researching about new malware and cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in mobile security and mobile vulnerabilities.
