Another hot new game has arrived That hot new game is Valorant, a multiplayer shooter scheduled for release by Riot Games, the developer of "League of Legends"

Valorant is slated for release this summer, but a closed "beta" version was released earlier this month that you can play right now, and people are scrambling to get the official key to unlock the beta

This malware scam promises prospective players a key to the beta, but instead installs a keylogger This scam is easy to avoid and easy to deal with, but it is easy to fall for, especially if you have been seduced by Valorant's advertising

This information comes from Albert Zsigovits, a threat researcher at the UK-based security firm Sophos; it is not clear where Zsigovits encountered the fake key generator, but the end result is easy enough to understand

Attempting to use the fake Valorant key generator downloads a keylogger from Pastebin directly to your computer and sends everything you type, including your username and password, back to some cybercriminal

Avoiding the scam is easy, because all you have to do is not try to generate a fraudulent beta key for Valorant Demand for these keys has skyrocketed since the game's beta version was released, but Riot is making it easier than ever to get legitimate code

Just watch the Valorant streamer on Twitch and wait for the codes to drop While getting the code is not guaranteed, remember, the beta is not for the players, it's for Riot to test server stress and netcode

It may be hard to be left out, but in a game with high expectations, there will always be fewer open slots than people who want to join

If you fall for the keygen trick, all hope is not lost Keyloggers are usually not advanced malware and should be eradicated from your system by running a virus scan with the best anti-virus program

However, be sure to change your passwords This is especially important if you share passwords for multiple accounts A cybercriminal with a username and password for one website can use them to log into many different sites The best password managers can help you

Unfortunately, keylogger removal must be done after the fact; according to VirusTotal, only Kaspersky software seems to recognize Pastebin's keylogger download page as malicious at this time

Still, there is hope However, it seems that some occasionally slip through the cracks

It is unknown how many people have downloaded the fake keylogger generator, or whether the anti-virus program sent the information to the cybercriminals before they discovered the keylogger

Since Valorant is a very popular game, it seems safe to say that the number is more than zero, but anything more than that would be pure speculation we hope Pastebin will remove the keylogger before other users have the opportunity to unwittingly download it and hopefully they will remove it

If you really want to play Valorant, sign up for the beta on Riot's official site and watch the Twitch streamer and hope for an official code It's not a perfect way to go, but even if you miss out, the game will be released in full this summer We won't have to wait that long