Plumber Mario will turn your computer into a crypto-slave. A game with a dangerous virus is circulating on the Internet

Mario Forever (also known as Super Mario 3: Mario Forever) is a popular free platform game from 2003, which was published by Buziol Games for Windows computers. As the name suggests, the game is inspired by the iconic Super Mario Bros.

Over the years, the Mario Forever project has been consistently developed. The game has received a number of updates and improvements. As a result, despite the passage of years and even decades, the game is still very popular and has a devoted fan base.

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Mario Forever with an unpleasant surprise. The plumber will infect you with a virus

Unfortunately, cybercriminals decided to take advantage of this popularity. it appears that malware-infected versions of Mario Forever have been circulating on the web for some time. Links to installers with malicious code injected appear, among others, in on popular internet forums and social media.

As experts explain, the installer crafted by cybercriminals contains three files. The first is the game itself. Unfortunately, along with it, it is also installed on the victim’s computer XMR app (hidden under the name java.exe), which is used for Monero cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency is mined without the user’s knowledge, which causes a significant decrease in computer performance.

The file “java.exe” is a Monero miner that collects information about the victim’s hardware and connects to the mining server at “gulf[.]moneroocean[.]stream” to start mining.

– explain analysts from the company.

Unfortunately, this is still not the end, because along with the infected version of Mario Forever we also get malware as a “gift” Umbral Stealer. As Cyble explains, it is an application that steals information from Windows computers.

The data stolen by the Umbral Stealer includes, among others: passwords and cookies from a web browser, session tokens, cryptocurrency wallets, credentials and authentication tokens for applications such as DIscord, Minecraft, Roblox or Telegram.

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Never download files from unknown sources

It is worth recalling here Jone of the most important cybersecurity rules: never download files from unknown sources. This applies to links on websites as well as attachments to e-mails received from unknown senders.

Infecting popular free apps and games with malware is one of the criminals’ favorite ways to get our data. While it is becoming increasingly difficult to infect applications available on Google Play and the App Store, in the case of Windows applications downloaded via the browser (and not the Microsoft Store), fraudsters still have a lot of room to maneuver.