Game Over — How a Public Red-Team Kit Became a Gamer-Focused Infostealer Threat

In the steadily escalating conflict between cyber-defenders and adversaries, an emerging battleground is crystal clear: the gaming community. A new tool, originally designed for legitimate red-team operations, is now being weaponized against gamers—with alarming implications for credential theft, payment fraud and identity compromise.

From open-source toolbox to weaponized infostealer

First released publicly in 2024, the toolkit known as RedTiger was marketed as a versatile, Python-based framework bundling network-scanning, OSINT, phishing toolkits and, notably, an infostealer. While such frameworks are common among pen-testers and red-teamers, the difference this time is that multiple payload variants of RedTiger’s stealer module are actively being seen in the wild—targeting gaming-adjacent platforms and players.

As one security executive puts it:

“The open-source ecosystem presents a significant duality for cybersecurity. … Malicious actors can freely audit, modify, and repurpose these same legitimate tools for offensive operations. This incident is a clear demonstration of that risk.”— Mayank Kumar, Founding AI Engineer at DeepTempo

In other words: the same transparency that supports defender innovation is being exploited by attackers to adapt and scale their operations.

Why gamers? Why now?

Gaming is no longer just entertainment—it’s commercial, social and digital in every sense. From avatar upgrades to in-game purchases, micro-transactions and cross-platform accounts, gamers represent a high-value and accessible target. Research from Kaspersky shows that during April 2024–March 2025 more than 19 million attempted attacks used the names of popular games to disguise malicious downloads and mods.

Moreover, infostealer malware as a category is surging: organizations such as Red Canary report a marked uptick in stealer infections across Windows and macOS systems.

In this case, RedTiger’s pieces align with the gaming threat profile:

• The infostealer module is capable of injecting JavaScript into the Discord desktop client to intercept tokens, messaging events and in-app purchase activity.

• It also captures browser-stored data (including payment methods), crypto-wallets, game account files (including systems like Roblox) and even webcam screenshots.

• Distribution samples suggest gaming-centric filenames and some support French-language messages—indicating a regional focus.

• The exfiltration chain uses a two-stage model: archive the loot, upload to a public cloud storage service (GoFile), then send the download link via a Discord webhook.

Taken together, the tool converts gaming machines into high-value espionage endpoints rather than simply casual targets.

Tradecraft and evasive maneuvers

RedTiger’s threat model shows sophistication: multi-OS (Windows, Linux, macOS) persistence options; process and file-spamming to create forensic noise; sandbox detection via blocked usernames/hostnames/hardware-IDs; and hosts-file modifications to block known security-vendor domains.

And the modular nature means users of this tool can pick and choose capabilities—making attribution and signature-based detection tougher.

Why this matters to enterprise and consumer security

While the immediate victims may be individual gamers, the broader implications ripple into enterprise risk:

• Personal gaming machines often cross-over into semi-work contexts (BYOD, mixed use) and so credentials or systems compromised via gaming pathways can bleed into corporate networks.

• Stolen credentials (Discord, gaming platforms, crypto wallets) can feed into broader identity-attack supply chains, initial access brokers and ransomware-oriented campaigns.

• The abuse of legitimate-looking services (public cloud storage, Discord webhooks) for exfiltration means network defenders must scrutinize “normal”-looking traffic flows for malicious intent.

As noted by the Australian Cyber Security Centre:

“Information stealer malware steals user credentials and system information … In remote work settings, some employees use personal devices for both work and personal internet browsing. … Info stealers target password stores, authentication cookies and other personal data within the web browser.”

The red-team-tool paradox

RedTiger illustrates a hard cybersecurity truth: tools designed for legitimate security assessment can become adversary-toolkits overnight. In the same way that the long-popular C2 framework Cobalt Strike has been repurposed by criminal actors, so too will newer toolkits like RedTiger.

As Kumar further emphasizes:

“Attackers are effectively leveraging the tool’s intended capabilities for data collection and repackaging it with social engineering lures, such as gaming utilities, to target specific user bases like the Discord community.”

In short, the hackers don’t need to invent new malware—they just adapt the tools, change the bait, and exploit trust paths.

Mitigation and defense for gamers (and beyond)

For security professionals and aware gamers alike, the following steps are urgent:

1. Multi-factor authentication (MFA): Given the stealer’s ability to intercept tokens, activate MFA wherever possible—especially on platforms tied to payment, digital assets, or identity.

   
   

2. Install from trusted sources only: The initial lure is often a “game cheat,” mod or utility supposedly tailored for gamers—but hosting it on unverified platforms, non-official forums or via Discord links increases risk.

   
   

3. Segmentation and device hygiene: If a machine is used both for gaming and personal/business access, consider segmentation (VMs, dedicated devices) or stricter controls on browser-stored credentials and payment-token storage.

   
   

4. Monitor exfiltration routes: Defense teams should look for anomalous uploads to generic public cloud storage paired with notification traffic via messaging/webhooks.

   
   

5. Awareness tailored to gamers: Social engineering campaigns exploiting game culture (mods, freebies, private Discord invites) need gamer-specific defense messaging and training.

   
   

Outlook

The case of RedTiger is a textbook example of how threat actors increasingly target communities once considered peripheral to “enterprise” threat models—gamers, Web3 players, crypto-enthusiasts. It’s the convergence of social engineering (gaming lures), commodity malware (infostealer families) and open-source tool-kits mounted on platforms like Discord that make this threat environment particularly potent.

While the security community must continue to watch for evolving tool-kits, one takeaway is clear: communities that embrace modding, cheatz or unofficial utility downloads are now part of the attack surface. And defenders—whether in enterprise SOCs or among independent gamers—must treat them as such.

In the words of Kumar:

“This campaign highlights a sophisticated blend of technical co-option and psychological manipulation. … The threat is not just the malware itself, but the ecosystem it abuses.”

Game over? Only if you’re unprepared.