Danger! Video game companies warn of growing threat from highly skilled hackers

ESA submits its latest overview of "notorious markets" to USTR

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has submitted its latest overview of "Notorious Markets" to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).

These submissions serve as input for the USTR's annual overview of piracy "markets", which helps shape the government's global copyright enforcement agenda.

The ESA, which represents video game companies such as Activision Blizzard, EA, Epic Games, Nintendo, Sony, Square Enix and Ubisoft, hopes that the interests of its members will be taken into account. In the report, the group lists various piracy sites that allow the public to download games for free.

Cyberlockers, Links and Torrent Sites

Download sites remain a major problem for the video game industry, and they come in many different forms. In the category of cyberlockers, 1fichier.com and megaup.net are specifically mentioned. The former has also been the target of legal action by Nintendo in France.

Megaup has not been prosecuted, but ESA sees the platform as a growing concern. According to the report, the estimated number of game downloads has increased by 135% over the past year. Although Megaup processes takedown notices, most are never followed up. Removed files only disappear after a considerable delay, according to ESA.

"Megaup hosts hundreds of unauthorized copies of copyrighted video games and has only a 33% response rate to ESA takedown notices despite receiving numerous removal notices," ESA writes.

"Link sites that index and manage links to content hosted on Megaup also benefit from the platform's low compliance rate, as these sites generate more traffic and therefore more advertising revenue thanks to Megaup's link sustainability."

These link sites also pose a threat, as do torrent indexers. ESA mentions nsw2u.com, Game3rb.com, Solidtorrents.to and 1337x.to in its submission. Interestingly, the gaming companies mention that 1337x was launched in 2014, seven years after its actual founding date.

Cheats and Marketplaces

The gaming companies go on to list various sites offering tips and related information. These include mpgh.net and unknowncheats.me. The latter claims to have over four million users and has been in business for over two decades.

"[Unknowncheats.me] offers tips and tutorials for over 100 games, as well as information and links to anti-cheat software and ways around their protocols. It doesn't charge for tips, but relies on advertising to generate revenue.

"All the tricks are created by the community, and the site encourages users to develop and distribute these illegal goods," adds ESA.

Unauthorized marketplaces make up the final category of sites. The ESA specifically mentions playerauctions.com and G2G.com, which sell in-game items such as skins, virtual currency and various enhancement options. According to recent estimates by SimilarWeb, these two sites receive millions of visits every month.

Stage bands, crackers and repackers

ESA has mentioned many of the above sites and services in previous submissions, but the group also highlights issues it has not yet discussed in detail. These include exit groups, crackers and repackers.

While the game piracy scene has thrived for some four decades, game companies describe "scene exit groups" or "exit groups" as an "emerging" threat.

"Stage release groups facilitate large-scale piracy by circumventing technological protection measures and "packaging" illegal downloads to make them more easily accessible to the general public," writes ESA.

Scene releases are indeed a problem, but ESA seems to be confusing certain terms. The Scene doesn't publish content for the general public; it's actually frowned upon and against their rules. There are, however, publishing groups not linked to the Scene and repackers who put content online for the general public.

Whether or not it's appropriate to use the term "Scene", ESA believes that "highly skilled" crackers and repackers pose a major threat to the gaming industry.

"Highly skilled hackers, also known as 'crackers' and 'repackers', are particularly critical to this illicit supply chain," writes ESA.

Cryptocurrency and malware

Finally, gaming companies mention malware and the use of cryptocurrencies as growing trends. Many illicit markets accept payments in cryptocurrencies, which are often harder to seize or trace than conventional bank accounts.

"With the growth of this often unregulated payment system, malicious actors are using cryptocurrency as a means to buy or sell illicit products without going through regulated financial institutions," ESA writes.

Malware can also be used to generate revenue. In some cases, malicious actors monetize pirated games by automatically installing cryptocurrency miners, while adware also remains a problem.

"Distributors of pirated video games often integrate these various forms of malware into their downloads in order to exploit users who download supposedly 'free' games," notes ESA.

The video game association hopes that by reporting these threats, some of them will attract the attention of law enforcement, policy-makers and foreign governments, and then be dealt with by appropriate measures.