Game developers extorted over AI cloning of Steam demos
Original title: Risky Bulletin: Game devs are being extorted with AI game-cloning threats
Unnamed senders demand hundreds to thousands of dollars and developers have pulled Steam demos, though follow-through is unproven.
For several months, unknown parties have emailed small game developers, threatening to copy public demos and unreleased games with AI and publish them early unless paid. Fees have ranged from hundreds to thousands of US dollars, and the campaign is believed to be why many developers removed demos from Steam. Valve told a South Korea conference the emails are a law-enforcement matter and that simple, single-mechanic games are easiest to copy.
Unconfirmed: It is unclear whether the email sender can actually clone and publish the threatened games.
- Extortion fees have varied between hundreds and thousands of US dollars.
- Some of the extortion emails surfaced online in recent weeks.
- AI copies of Needle In A Haystack and Escape the Walls reached the market within days.
- Valve said simplistic games centered on one mechanic are easy targets for copying.
Impact: Ransom demands over threatened early release of AI game clones
- 1.Treat the extortion emails as a law-enforcement matter, as Valve advised.
Indicators of compromise
auto-extracted · verify before use · export allAll| Type | Indicator | Context |
|---|---|---|
| domain | law.com | targeted US law firms over the past two years. [ Reuters // Law.com ] Resolve data breach: Online fashion retailer Revolve says |
From the original article
14 min read at news.risky.bizIn other news: FBI links Binance hack to North Korea; CyberPartisans hack Russia's statistics service; Apple sends new spyware notifications.
By Catalin Cimpanu · news.risky.biz
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