Don’t Download A Nintendo Or NES Game Or Emulator: It Could Be Malware!

If you love Nintendo and NES games too much, skip downloading emulators and other related apps for a while: There’s a virus on the loose.

The Gunpoder virus may look like a harmless game, but thanks to the legitimate mobile advertising platform Airpush, you may willingly give this virus the permission to not just steal your money, it will also steal your data. What’s the big deal about your data stolen? Well, that could be used for possible identity theft.

The virus has already affected at least 13 countries, and all of them are, well, not China. According to malware experts, the virus only propagates to users from outside China. They managed to trace this via reverse engineering of the virus’ activity. The virus can propagate via SMS, and will steal your browser history, as well as your browsers’ bookmark information. Not only that, it also collects information about all installed apps and packages on your device. Currently, Palo Alto Networks has identified 49 variations of the malware. Some of these can propagate via SMS, some may be relatively “inert,” though 28 out of these 49 malware strains can entice a user to make payments.

Some users may not think twice about making a relatively small lifetime payment of $0.29 or $0.49 via PayPal or Skrill, but be reminded of the personal data theft component of this malware. Data theft can turn into identity theft, and for identity theft victims, the experience may turn into a nightmare. Be reminded of the horror stories of ID thieves using someone else’s Social Security Numbers to rack up debts, commit crime, and possibly even obtain healthcare. The latter could turn life-threatening, as having an erroneous health record in North America especially, could compromise one’s healthcare. Be reminded that when an ID thief steals your health records, thus creating records of their illnesses on yours, you could receive conflicting or compromised healthcare that may well jeopardize your life itself.

Aside from healthcare, ID theft also brings the possibility of seeing your credit score plummet, and your credit report compromised for years, even decades. It might become a nightmare to obtain a new house, be accepted by landlords, get new credit cards, and the like. What is worse is that, since prospective employers look at a future employee’s credit report, a compromised record could disqualify you for a new job or a promotion. So think twice before you download a NES or Nintendo game or emulator for the Android.

The Gunpoder virus has affected these countries so far:

• North America: Mexico, United States

• South America: Brazil

• Europe: France, Italy, Spain, Russia

• Asia: India, Indonesia, Thailand

• Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Iraq

• South Africa

While installing anti-virus apps such as Lookout! Mobile Security or Avast Mobile Security may help, nothing is more effective than awareness, personal vigilance, and not installing suspect apps. So whenever an app similar to a NES or Nintendo emulator prompts you for a $0.29 or $0.49 payment via Skrill or PayPal, you now know that that might be Gunpowder.

Gunpowder may also ask for payment from CYPay or Xsolla.