Imposters Among Us, new malware disguises itself as the popular game
Perhaps fittingly, Among Us has inspired its fair share of imposters, ranging from the merely annoying to the outright dangerous.
The deluge of fake Among Us apps floating around is meant to capitalize on the game’s success, luring in players with the promise of mods or hacks, while actually installing malware on devices and potentially stealing from them.
People looking to play Among Us should always make sure they download the game from a trusted source, and look into whether or not any potential mods are legitimate before installing them.
Why is malware targeting Among Us?
Among Us exploded into the public consciousness quite suddenly, and attracted millions of players in part due to its easy accessibility and free availability on mobile devices.
This, combined with an organic word-of-mouth marketing, allowed the game to quickly spread through social circles, especially among the younger players.
This exact demographic is also the one most likely to lack the experience or knowledge necessary to identify or detect a malicious Among Us malware site.
It’s easy to see how a younger player might stumble across a website claiming to offer a modded version of Among Us, only to inadvertently download frustrating malware onto their own mobile devices.
This is especially dangerous if the device in question has any kind of financial information saved on it at all, as this kind of information could lead to money being stolen from the owner of the mobile device.
How much Among Us themed malware is out there?
According to a report by TechRadar, there are over 60 Among Us imposters floating around the internet, waiting to infect the machines of anyone who downloads them.
These can range from apps that simply install adware or bloatware which can slow down phones and computers and make them difficult to use, or games which install more devastating malware.
As a result, it’s best to be vigilant and keep an eye out for any kind of website claiming to offer mods, resource packs, hacks, or anything else.
How to tell if a mod is legitimate?
Malware is especially annoying for anyone who actually wants to mod Among Us. Mods themselves are meant to be harmless, and usually require manipulating or adding to the game’s data in order to change appearances or introduce new functionality.
It can be hard to tell exactly which mods are safe and which are malicious, especially without a cybersecurity background, so the best way to know if a mod is safe is to make use of the community at large.
If the mod is hosted on a legitimate mod website, it will often have comments discussing its issues or shortcomings, though if the mod is actually malware, there will usually be someone saying so in the comments.
Among Us mods hosted through private sites or through more open platforms will make it harder to know for sure if they are safe or not. In this case, it’s best to check to see who claims to have made the mod.
If the mod was developed by a semi-public figure, such as an Among Us content creator or someone well known in the community, then it has a higher chance of being safe.
An Among Us content creator wouldn’t want to risk their public reputation and potential community standing by releasing malware. However, this is not a perfect process.
When in doubt players should avoid downloading anything, if they are even a little uncertain about where it comes from or what it is.