Pirated copies of The Super Mario Bros. Movie may be infected with malware

According to reports, hackers have infected pirated versions of The Super Mario Bros. Movie with malware.

While The Super Mario Bros. Movie continues to smash records at the box office, audiences now have the option to purchase the blockbuster film digitally.

As of writing, on-demand streaming platforms like Amazon and Vudu are selling the animated movie for $24.99. A release date for its physical release across DVD and Blu-ray has yet to surface, though pre-orders for these iterations and a 4K steelbook option have already gone live.

Of course, some have no intention of paying for the film and will instead attempt to pirate it. But reports suggest those who prefer to pirate movies would be much better off by just buying or renting Mario’s latest adventure.

Pirated versions of the Mario movie may be infected with malware

Folks looking to download the animated Mario movie at no cost better beware – hackers are already taking advantage. Cybersecurity firm Reason Labs (via TechRadar) has reportedly found evidence of trojans disguised as HD versions of the movie online.

Instead of downloading the animated film, the victim invites in malware capable of infecting their PC and hijacking sensitive information.

Reason Labs researchers claim installing the malware will change a user’s search engine. Ultimately, victims will find themselves navigating websites filled with ads that benefit cybercriminals.

Universal Pictures

The firm says that more than 150,000 of its customers have reportedly fallen victim to the trojans, which can additionally steal private information from other compromised devices.

Taking the number of affected customers into consideration, Reason Labs estimates millions of people have been targeted, thus far.

Apparently, malware copies of The Super Mario Bros. Movie can be easily identified based on their file names. They’ll either read as the super mario bros moviehd.exe” or “the super mario bros moviecam.exe.”

Simply put, it’s probably not a good idea to illegally download the new Mario-branded movie.