I have been a fan of the Diablo series since the 1^st installment was released on December 31^st, 1996. After waiting over ten years since the 2^nd installment in 2000, Diablo III finally arrived in May. As one of the most highly anticipated games this year, it was only a matter of time before malware authors began targeting it. Besides its immense popularity, another thing that is bound to make Diablo III even more attractive to cybercriminals is a new feature called Real Money Auction House. The new auction house (not yet live) will allow players to buy/sell items and gold for real money.

The time has come. Diablo III hasn’t even been out 3 months and associated malware is already starting to pop up. Security researchers over at Symantec have discovered a new W32.Gammima.AG variant that steals Diablo III communications. This malware is not brand-new, it has been encountered several times before–most notably for attacking the popular game World of Warcraft. This is just a slightly updated version, specifically designed for targeting Diablo III.

The game’s developer, Blizzard Entertainment, has included some security protection, such as a one-time password authenticator and account locking, so that gamers can prevent their items and gold being stolen. As always, remember that in order to stay safe, please ensure that you have the latest patches installed on your system and keep your antivirus definitions up to date.