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PC Gamer
PC Gamer
Joshua Wolens

Original Modern Warfare 2 servers yanked offline after players report self-replicating malware

A soldier against a background of fire and smoke.

The PC servers for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (the one from 2009, not the recent one, yes I'm still upset about this) have gone down temporarily after players of the venerable classic reported encountering hacked lobbies in the game's multiplayer mode. Not ordinary hacked lobbies, mind you—the ones that just reset your settings or do something else mildly aggravating—these ones were apparently infecting players with a self-spreading worm virus.

A post last Wednesday on the official Call of Duty Updates Twitter account reads that "Multiplayer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) on Steam was brought offline while we investigate reports of an issue." Eagle-eyed readers will note that the tweet very specifically does not mention which "issue" in particular the shutdown is related to, but given that it came a month after players began reporting encounters with a worm called Wacatac.B!ml in MW2 lobbies, it seems likely it's related.

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