Ahead of HBO‘s The Last of Us TV adaptation debuting now (January 15), newcomers to Naughty Dog‘s franchise happen to be warned to steer free from fake sites offering non-existent versions from the game.
In a report, antivirus provider Kaspersky has shared it expects HBO’s adaptation to be a “real boom,” though warns that viewers who've never heard of the series before – and are unaware these days it is a PlayStation exclusive – are susceptible to criminals who're offering fake PC versions of the game.
Kaspersky says it has already discovered a website offering downloads for The Last of Us Part 2 on PC – despite it as being a PlayStation exclusive – and actually, is peddling malicious files to players.
The company also reports the existence of a phishing site that provides an “activation code” for The Last of Us, which will not arrive on PC until March 3 this season. Site users are then reportedly prompted to select a “gift” with the game – which range from a PS5 to a Roblox gift certificate – along with their bank details, which in turn find themselves in criminal hands.
“Rather than offering pre-access to the series, cybercriminals have chosen another path and therefore are distributing malicious files under the guise of a game,” commented Olga Svistunova, web content analyst at Kaspersky. “This implies that gamers, particularly the new ones who don’t yet know enough about cybersecurity when playing, are some of the main audience for cybercriminals, and they will develop increasingly more methods to exploit them.”
To avoid these scams, Svistunova recommends buyers “check if your coveted game can be obtained around the platform offered, download games only from official app stores and don't forget to use a trusted security solution.”
As for that Television show, we awarded The Last Of Us four stars out of five within our review, describing it as being an “apocalyptically good gaming port.”
In other gaming news, a CPR touchdown celebration featured in Madden NFL 23 will be removed following American football star Damar Hamlin’s mid-game cardiac event.
