Spreading malware through online games is quite difficult, but cybercriminals will still try.

The entire source code for the popular online shooter games Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Team Fortress 2 was recently leaked online, raising (legitimate) concerns that these games might fall prey to hacking. The situation has raised (legitimate) concerns that these games could fall prey to hacking.

Developer/publisher Valve has reassured fans that the games are safe to play. However, as with any software that could be compromised, there is the question of whether Valve's official patch or malware injection by hackers comes first.

This information comes from ZDNet, which explains that source code for 2017 builds of CS:GO and TF2 has been leaked to 4Chan and torrent sites since Tuesday (April 21).

The CS:GO builds appear to have been leaked in a very limited form in 2018, but are now more widely available. It is difficult to say whether these hackers were able to do anything with the source code, or at least whether there was anything Valve could not have predicted and fixed.

Valve issued a statement to ZDNet to reassure online gamers:

"We have found no reason for players to be alarmed or avoid the current build.

"We have found no reason for players to avoid the current build," said Doug Lombardi, Valve's vice president of marketing:

"We have not found any reason for players to be wary of the current build.

However, Ars Technica posted another statement that appears to be from the same Valve statement: "We have reviewed the leaked code and believe it is a repost of a limited CS:GO engine code depot released to our partners in late 2017 and originally leaked in 2018. It is believed to have been leaked in 2018."

However, when Ars Technica specifically asked about TF2, the company did not respond.

Whether this means CS:GO is the safer choice of the two is not certain; Ars Technica seems to think so, but the statement seems reassuring for both games. Players will have to evaluate for themselves and play at their own risk for the time being.

Indeed, "play at your own risk" seems to be the best advice we can give at this point. Even if hackers get their hands on the source code of the game, it will take time for them to discover the vulnerabilities in the game and develop malware injection for them.

There is no guarantee that this injection will work once it is out in the world, especially since the source code in question is very old. Furthermore, both games are still actively supported, and Valve is aware of this leak and is probably already working on a potential fix.

In other words: there is no guarantee that CS:GO and TF2 are safe. However, the stars would have to align very much for something fatal to occur within the next few days. (As the weeks go by, this calculation will change.)

There are two ways to avoid malware from CS:GO and TF2. One is to avoid playing the games altogether, which is possible. There are many other PC games that can be played for free, including online shooters.

The other way, of course, is to install the best anti-virus program available. Whatever malware hackers use is probably well known and documented, so a decent program will be able to detect and remove it before it comes in contact with your hard drive.

Rogue activity in CS:GO is unprecedented. Last year, Belonard malware infested nearly 40% of CS:GO servers after hackers exploited a zero-day vulnerability.

There is also a decent argument that the main purpose of CS:GO is a complex money laundering machine (for rogue players, not Valve). If you want to keep playing, play smart.