A flight sim company who put malware in one of their jets now say they were only after one person, in an attempt to downplay how many users were affected by what they described as DRM . As we reported yesterday, Flight Sim Labs normally sell planes to players of Flight Simulator X, but they recently included a malicious file called test.exe in an installer for a popular airbus (you might have seen it if you ve flown with EasyJet). The malware was designed to dump usernames and passwords saved in the Chrome browser. When this was discovered, the head of the company said the malware was targeted at pirates. It only activated if the person installing the plane was using a pirated key to do so, he said. But they now claim they were using the clandestine .exe file to target a single, specific person. (more…)

A company who makes add-ons for Flight Simulator X included malware in one of their downloadable jets, players have alleged. The malicious file is called test.exe and it is designed to extract passwords from the Chrome web browser, according to the user who discovered it. The company in question, Flight Sim Labs, have since replaced the dirty jet with a clean one. But they say that to claim the file “indiscriminately dumps Chrome passwords” is “not correct information”, adding that the malware was only extracted temporarily and that it was targeted at pirates. The head of the company describes the file as DRM . (more…)

Ridealong is our monthly feature where Brendan travels deep into game worlds to meet, question and journey with the inhabitants that dwell within.> This time, he meets a flight instructor for a virtual airline and sweats as he learns his way around the cockpit in Microsoft Flight Simulator X.

We are at 2000 feet when we begin to stall. I am absolutely certain I am going to crash this plane. We are tumbling to earth and all I can hear is the harsh buzz of the stall warning, telling me everything about this is wrong. But then I hear it, the voice of Dan TX Hills . He has a calm voice. As far as he s concerned, everything has gone exactly the way it was supposed to.

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The last time I tried my hand at flying a plane on my PC was while exploring multiplayer Grand Theft Auto V. I couldn’t master the craft at all and crashed and burned my way through a wind farm as friends expressed horror and mirth. I suspect that my own utter incompetence in the face of flight versus the skill of others is part of what fascinates me about VATSIM.

VATSIM is short for Virtual Air Traffic Simulation Network. It’s a system which populates a flight sim by connecting enthusiasts who each take on piloting or air traffic controller roles. I found out about it through Graham who had spent time on one of the VATSIM forums picking through people’s stories and relaying them to me over Gchat (as in Google Chat Graham doesn’t have his own chat client yet).

Obviously I was concerned about gaining access myself (the ruined wind farm still loomed large as a relatively recent trauma despite GTA V not being in any way a flight sim). That’s why I got in touch with Justin Friedland. He’s the Vice President of Communications and Marketing at VATSIM and has been flying simulated aircraft since Microsoft Flight Simulator, which was released in 1982.

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