Some Minecraft PC Users Have Been Infected With Malware

Minecraft has seen some great content over the past few years, including some user creations that have become quite popular within the community. But someone's actually taken that creative aspect and somehow infected the game with malware.

This report from PCGamesN indicates that some users have managed to create skins that have ended up damaging the accounts of 50,000 players. This is due to "malware designed to reformat hard drives and delete backup data and system programs," based on details provided by Avast.

It appears that some of these user-created skins have been infected with a malicious Powershell script, which in turn manages to eat away at the data of certain users. There also appears to be a tourstart.exe loop that can also hamper the performance of someone's system. Some are even getting a threatening message if they apply the skins, noting, "You Are Nailed, Buy a New Computer This Is a Piece of Shit" and "You have maxed your internet usage for a lifetime." (At least that second quote has a sense of humor.)

It's interesting how this malware managed to make its way into the official Minecraft system, even if it is under the guise of user-created skins. But it appears that Mojang is well aware of the problem, and has noted that it's hard at work on fixing the matter. No word yet if those affected by the malware will be seeing something that restores their systems.

If you want an idea of what kind of skins are infected, PCGamesN posted the above pic, in which features some rather interesting costumes, like a deep sea diver's costume, as well as a funkily designed outfit consisting of many colors. If you see these within the game, don't download them.

We'll let you know once Mojang has the fix applied. For now, definitely watch out for any content you find in the community, especially if users have already reported on it. Never hurts to proceed with caution.

Minecraft is available now for PC, as well as Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

(Hat tip to PCGamesN for the image and the scoop!)