Cybercriminals have set a trap for Fortnite gamers, creating a ransomware program that comes disguised as a cheat hack, but actually encrypts files and then deletes them every two hours unless the victim pays up.

The ransomware is named Syrk, but researchers at Cyren say in a blog post published this week that it is essentially the already established Hidden-Cry malware, only with a .Syrk extension. The source code for Hidden-Cry was published on GitHub in late 2018, meaning it is now widely available to would-be threat actors.

According to Cyren, Syrk pretends to a tool that helps players aim weapons better and also pinpoint the locations of other players. "We expect it to possible be distributed via an upload to a sharing site and the link posted in Fortnite users in forums," write threat analysts and blog post co-authors Maharlito Aquino and Kervin Alintanahin.

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Topics:

Cybercrime Malware Ransomware