I personally dislike this trend towards games launchers. I don’t trust them, they include large installations, try to control all your games, even non-brand games and are likely to report back far more data than we want them to. If you use EA Origin for your games, you need to update it right away.
We test all kinds of game launchers here at Dave’s Computers. We have to know what they do as our customers use them. While Origin is more stable than some launchers, it is still a largely unnecessary installation. Nevertheless, as launchers go it is quite secure. Except for this flaw.
Origin update
A major security flaw was detected in the Windows version of the game launcher that allowed other users to trick you into opening and running malware within the Origin system. Once launched, the malware can be downloaded and run on your computer.
The flaw allowed hackers to send links to EA Origin users that includes a link. You don’t have to click the link for it to work. The hacker could include a script that automatically selects the link once it arrives on a target machine, so even if you’re aware of the risks links provide, you still get infected.
EA have released a fix for the vulnerability. If you have Origin set to automatically update, it will do just that when you next start it. If, like so many users, you didn’t want Origin running in the background all the time and set it to manually update, you will need to look for the prompt for the update.
If you don’t see the update prompt, either restart Origin or download a fresh copy from the EA website.
Once you have updated Origin, perform a malware scan and an antivirus scan. Use your malware scanner of choice and perform a full scan. Then fire up your antivirus and perform a full system scan just to make sure. This may take a while but is well worth the effort. If you can leave your PC running while you’re at school or work, or overnight, all the better.
As far as we know, the issue only affected Windows versions of Origin. Once patched, the vulnerability is no longer an issue and you can continue using it as normal.
If you have any issues with your computer, want to make double sure it has no malware or want us to fix, upgrade or replace your computer, bring it to Dave’s Computers in New Jersey. We are here to help!
