ITCH.IO SCANDAL :: CHECK YOUR NAMES AND GAMES!

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So a concerned member PM'd me earlier today to warn of some games that might have been stolen from the site. I looked into it and found something very concerning.


Images, names and details of games from RMN have been added to itch.io, either under the original developers' name or another members' name. These profiles have downloads added that have malware in the form of bitcoin miners and other viruses.

This means that someone is using our site and the content there-on, as well as the names of our members, to spread virus-laden projects.

Leafo, the owner of itch.io, is looking into the issue, but he's currently helpless to figure out which are real and which are fake. Thus, we are asking for your help to deal with this.


What can you do?

Search on itch.io for your username and game names.

Any hits that you didn't put up yourself (or give permission to put up to others), report. Put something along the lines of "This was stolen from RMN and is my game and may possibly have malware."



Leafo and his crew will be on the look-out for any reports about these stolen games.


Help us protect you, and each other! If you notice someone else's game/s or name/s on there without appropriate details, post either here or to them via PM so that we can check this out. Quite a few people have already reported stolen content (including myself), so keep an eye out!
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I found a "FlowerThief", but no projects are associated with that name. The creator page has a twitter account (if I'm reading things right?), and a cursory look there makes me think it's not related to flowerthief.

On one hand, nothing appears to have been stolen. On another hand, RMN's flowerthief is the creator of Heartache 101, which has been listed among the top ten most downloaded games on RMN.
SunflowerGames
The most beautiful user on RMN!
13323

Copied my user name / profile information / my avatar / and 2 games:
No Gold for Brigands and Eye Sore
(I sent report in on both of them.)






Interestingly enough my profile information mentions RMN.

ayy, got no results!

So I guess it's only the more popular ones.
My profile was copied. The user uploaded clones of Rezident Evil: It Is Escape, Mystic Quest Remastered and Rosary Of The Reaper. I sent a report off to itch's admins.

Update: The fake profile is gone. The admin staff work quick.
SunflowerGames
The most beautiful user on RMN!
13323

author=ShinNessTen
ayy, got no results!

So I guess it's only the more popular ones.

Out of all my games! These sir are not my most popular games.
(They don't regularly get a lot of downloads compared to my big ones.)
So I have no idea what their criteria is.
author=kory_toombs
author=ShinNessTen
ayy, got no results!

So I guess it's only the more popular ones.


Out of all my games! These sir are not my most popular games.
(They don't regularly get a lot of downloads compared to my big ones.)
So I have no idea what their criteria is.

Hey, I know there's this Helazz fella who's all edgy about you guys. Maybe some petty revenge scheme? Then again, I talk out of my butt.

You seem to be around for a long time and I only ever do blog updates and occaisonally ask for help on the forums about scripting.
Then again, I did had confrontations with Helazz, but probably not as much, so he doesn't care about me/forgot about me.

THAT'S JUST SPECULATION tho and probably shouldn't even spotlight it... but you know, I just kinda wanna list possibilities :X
Just to be safe, does anyone know dyluck?
https://dyluck.itch.io/

Hre's an account and I dunno if it's the real deal.
author=Archeia_Nessiah
Just to be safe, does anyone know dyluck?
https://dyluck.itch.io/

Hre's an account and I dunno if it's the real deal.


Legends of Illarion 2 on there is 11 mb while RMN's copy is 200+ mb. Both games were released 2 days ago. At first glance it seems to fit the bill for the malware stuff going on.
Yeah, we gabbed a bit about this on mystic quests:remastered's page

Glad there's finally a topic up about this. rpghorrofan uncovered a lot of info, huge thank you to rpghorrorfan ❤ for spotting this out! Dude's amazing, wish I could buy them a pizza. Hopefully, they can jump in here and give us more info, they uncovered like, a slew of accounts, that have now been successfully taken down:

https://genesus817.itch.io/
https://koltekia.itch.io/
https://77four77.itch.io/
https://johnthemercedes.itch.io/
https://radicalpein.itch.io/

Just to sort of compile what I've learned so far. I backed up one of the pages to webarchive just as an example of what to lookout for:

Malware Account
https://web.archive.org/web/20180224223912/https://twentyfour24.itch.io/
Rosary of the reaper Malware
https://web.archive.org/web/20180224224018/https://twentyfour24.itch.io/rosary-of-the-reaper
Mystic Quest:Remastered Malware
https://web.archive.org/web/20180224224101/https://twentyfour24.itch.io/mystic-quest-remastered
Rezident Evil: It Is Escape Malware
https://web.archive.org/web/20180224223931/https://twentyfour24.itch.io/rezident-evil-it-is-escape

After looking at a couple of these gamepage accounts there seems to be a pattern between these accounts:

1)Often these malware itch.io games pages, will be game pages that have been published quite recently.

If you check "More Info" it'll usually say "Published 12 hours ago" or "2 days ago". (the longest account was published 8 days ago)

2)Another thing to look out for is shared file sizes.
In the example I posted above you'll notice, there's 3 games on this account, but each game on this account, shares a file size of 189MB, often the file sizes will vary, but if at least 2 games have the same file size, then it's most likely malware

3)Last but not least, if you're still not sure, use virus total to check for malware
Out of curiosity, I decided to upload/scan Mystic Quest Remastered, because I thought it was odd, someone would release an unreleased game of frogge's on itch.io, it only took a few of minutes but this is what came up:



But ya, as liberty mentioned, the easiest way to sort of track this down is to just search your username and game names on itch.io's database. and just, skim gamespages, while using those 3 conditions I mentioned:

if the gamepage was published 2 - 8 days ago, or the file size looks suspicious , it's probably malware - if you're still not sure, use virus total

And yea, just keep your eyes peeled.
author=Darken
author=Archeia_Nessiah
Just to be safe, does anyone know dyluck?
https://dyluck.itch.io/

Hre's an account and I dunno if it's the real deal.
Legends of Illarion 2 on there is 11 mb while RMN's copy is 200+ mb. Both games were released 2 days ago. At first glance it seems to fit the bill for the malware stuff going on.


Yea, I threw this onto virus total just now - definitely malware:

author=twentyfour24
My profile was copied. The user uploaded clones of Rezident Evil: It Is Escape, Mystic Quest Remastered and Rosary Of The Reaper. I sent a report off to itch's admins.

Update: The fake profile is gone. The admin staff work quick.


I sent them a report last night as soon as I saw this and they haven't fixed the repost of mine yet. And yes, I think they definitely are taking the more popular games, since they took HELLBOUND and not Super Maria RPG, which is my other game, and has considerably less downloads.
So far, no one has posted under my username or has posted anything under my games' names.

I could be wrong, but I've checked twice to be sure.

I guess I'm safe... for now.
Another one just popped up: https://yialen1776.itch.io/revenge-of-the-monster-king

Which is Destiny of the Dragonlord here on RMN.

Considering the name change, I have reasonable doubt that this is an automated scandal (or at least fully). Someone may definitely be doing this manually.

EDIT: Already taken down. That was quick.
Dyluck
For thousands of years, I laid dormant. Who has disturbed my slumber?
5184
author=Darken
author=Archeia_Nessiah
Just to be safe, does anyone know dyluck?
https://dyluck.itch.io/

Hre's an account and I dunno if it's the real deal.
Legends of Illarion 2 on there is 11 mb while RMN's copy is 200+ mb. Both games were released 2 days ago. At first glance it seems to fit the bill for the malware stuff going on.


Yeah, that's a fake account and not me. Looks like it's already taken down now, so thank you to everyone who helped report it.
Thank you all for the quick actions. None of my projects got stolen.
I'd be very surprised if mine showed up there, but would anyone be kind enough to doublecheck just in case? : S
AceOfAces
Engineering to infinity!
2138
I ran a check on itch.io for Immortal Sins the morning. Only my mirror is up. And only my profile on it is there. So, everything's fine on my side. I am keeping an eye out for this. Should I post any info on my gamedev blog though? Just in case.
SunflowerGames
The most beautiful user on RMN!
13323

I used some search terms and found these popular games
https://itch.io/games/tag-rpgmaker

I found:
Pocket Mirror
The Huntress of the Hollow
Aria's Story
Nocturne: Rebirth (English)
Erayu
Luxaren Allure

I can't confirm if they were added by user or not though.
If there's some way to mass PM people about this issue I
would recommend it. This looks like a very serious problem.
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