The official Valheim Discord is currently locked down after it was taken over by hackers posting links containing malware. Iron Gate has pulled the Valheim community channel and warns players not to accept any invites or links to the Valheim Discord until further notice. Valheim’s publisher reports that administrator accounts were taken over by hackers, who shared links ostensibly to innocent downloadable files. These links were instead part of a phishing scam designed to upload executables onto targets’ PCs. Players report that these executables are seemingly designed to obtain cookie and personal data.
As of this writing, the Valheim Discord does not appear in search results and links to the social media channel have been removed from the survival game’s official website. ‘Munin,’ a Steam moderator for Coffee Stain, which publishes Valheim, reports that the server is locked down and that the link to the Valheim Discord currently redirects to a server owned by one of the hackers.
The moderator warns players not to click any links or accept any invites associated with the Valheim Discord. Iron Gate has also posted a statement, reiterating that players should not use any links connected to the Valheim Discord, but explaining that the team will “do our best to restore it [the Discord server] to what it once was.”
“Multiple Discord accounts with admin permissions were hijacked,” Munin says. “A phishing link was spammed containing an infected file. Additionally, an attempt was made to delete all channels and ban users. The Discord is in lockdown while Iron Gate is working on resolving and reaching out to Discord for assistance. Thank you for your patience.”
Valheim players report receiving a link to a “fake game” which, when accessed, deposited a file called ‘Windows Boot Manager.’ “I uploaded the files to VirusTotal and it is indeed malware,” one respondent, ‘Famelhaut,’ says. “It seems to be an epsilon stealer, which steals data and cookies from the browser.”
PCGamesN will update this story with more information as it arises.
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