Bitcoin miner virus

With the imminent release of any high profile video game, there inevitably are a number of pirate copies made available through torrents on peer-to-peer networks. Choosing to download one of these illegal copies of a game comes with a lot of risk on the part of the downloader. If you’re lucky, you get a clean version of the game, but more often than not there’s malware attached.

In the case of Watch Dogs, which is officially released tomorrow, one pirate has decided to use the game for a get rich quick scheme. Their torrent version, known as the Skidrow release, bundles with it a hidden Bitcoin miner virus. Anyone attempting to run the game from this torrent will also activate the Bitcoin miner on their PC, and in turn start generating Bitcoin for whoever added the miner to this release.

The side effect for the user is a big chunk of CPU time dedicated to mining Bitcoin for someone else and no actual guarantee the game will work. That means more heat and power use, and an unstable PC in some cases. Your PC is also running a virus, so who knows what else it will be susceptible to running in the future.

There are apparently two versions of the Skidrow releases of Watch Dogs–the real one and a fake one which includes the Bitcoin miner virus. But rather than trying to find the torrent without the virus attached, why not go and purchase the game instead. That way you won’t be risking a virus and actually paying the developer for their years of hard work producing the game.