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RandomFactor writes:

According to the security firm Dr. Web, of the approximately 5,000 registered Counter-Strike 1.6 game servers online, 39% are malicious.

Trojan.Belonard gets installed on a device upon connecting to a malicious game server. The Trojan exploits vulnerabilities of the game client and is able to infect both the Steam versions and the pirated builds of Counter-Strike 1.6 (CS 1.6). Once on the victim’s computer, the Trojan replaces the files of the client and creates proxies to infect other users. Such a scheme usually serves to create a network of infected computers, which can be used to promote game servers for money.

The Belonard malware promotes a particular community and displays ads to players, however its primary use is to:

promote legitimate CS1.6 multiplayer servers by adding them to the users' available server list, which the Belonard developer would do for a fee.

Additional Coverage on SCMagazine and ZDNet

Original Submission