ADVISORY: Malicious Mods, Identity Theft, Malware, And You

⚠️ ADVISORY: Malicious Mods, Identity Theft, Malware, and You ⚠️

Hey, all! Not sure how many people will see this, but if you do, please reblog. This is a 'little' post regarding a potentially big problem affecting the Sims 4 community. If you download mods/CC at all (and yes I know CC is a type of mod), this applies to you.

TL;DR: For the sake of your personal info, identity, bank account, et cetera, please STOP downloading any mods/CC for the time being. Especially from the following sites: CurseForge, ModTheSims, The Sims Resource. It doesn't matter if you know the creator or not. Give it at least a week while we all figure out what's going on. If you must, I would recommend only downloading directly from a creator's Patreon (assuming they have one).

Other people have written at length about the mods in question, so I'll just share their posts below.

What's going on?

From the Sims 4 After Dark Discord server (a server you should join if you're not in it already):

⚠️If you downloaded any mod listed in the above post and played the game with them installed, this is the cleaner program Kuttoe (creator of the Home Regions and Townie Demographics mods) mentioned in their post: GitHub - overwolf/sims4-social-events-cleaner: Source files and exe release for a tool to clean up your machine if you have downloaded the "Social Events - Unlimited Time" Sims 4 mod ⚠️

Got confirmation from Kuttoe that as long as you didn't boot up the game with the malicious mods installed (or deleted them completely from your computer before playing the game), you *should* be fine. Still, I recommend that anyone who thinks they might have downloaded any of them run the cleaner program.

Here's an explanation from @anadius2 (reposted by Kuttoe) in the Sims 4 After Dark server (not providing a link to prevent brigading or spam, but you can DM me and I'll give you the link) about what the malware will do to your computer:

And a little dive into the back-end coding stuff for the more tech-savvy Simmers out there:

So, to recap:

Fake mods were uploaded to Curseforge, ModTheSims, and The Sims Resource

@msqsimsofficial had their account compromised on 2 of those sites (they are a victim of hacking, so do not send them hate!)

If downloaded, these malicious mods have the ability to steal very sensitive info (your passwords, credit card info if saved somewhere in your browser, data)

As of right now, antivirus software may not be able to detect the malware

Mac and Linux users seem to be safe; Windows users are the ones that could be affected

Why is this happening?

Unsure. Lots of theories are being made by people far more knowledgeable than me, but from the looks of things, could be crypto bullshit and/or an attempt to steal your data and sell it. This is very, very serious, and could wreck your life if said data/personal info falls into the wrong hands.

Identity Theft: What It Is, How to Prevent It, Warning Signs and Tips - NerdWallet

It's always a good idea to change passwords every couple of months or so, but if you think you've been affected, you also need to change your passwords for things like online banking, email and social media accounts, healthcare sites AFTER running the cleaner.

What now?

I want to talk about how we approach modding our games and downloading files in general.

Please STOP downloading mod file folders from people who did not create the specific mods. Period. This includes Sim dumps, building/lots with CC, mod folders promoted on YouTube, etc. This does not mean that anyone sharing them is doing so maliciously. In fact, I appreciate the amount of effort people put into compiling these resources! But unless you're super careful (and super knowledgeable), you run the risk of downloading malware like this on your computer. Make no mistake, the malicious files in question look like run-of-the-mill, everyday mods. Two of them were even posted from a trustworthy creator's actual account! The only way to know what they actually do is to peek into the code, and idk about you, but I don't know Python. So even after this issue is resolved, you really should only download files from the creators themselves.

But what about CC shopping?

Here's how I like to approach it: I stick to lookbooks and combing through the Patreons/accounts of creators who make items I like. If I see a Sim dump with CC that I'm interested, I try to reach out to the poster and ask where they got specific CC. If I can't do that, I see if it was shared via Drive, look at the individual files themselves, then head to the original CC creator's official download page and get it from the source.

That's all I have for you! Stay safe, and happy Simming! 🫶🏾

there’s a reason why the entire story of avatar the last airbender begins and ends with katara. there’s a reason why we are introduced to katara first before we are introduced to any other character. there’s a reason why katara is the narrator. there’s a reason why the creators have emphasized over and over again that katara is just as titular to the story as aang - she’s the other main character.

when you water down katara - remove her compassion, her ability to connect with others, her nurturing role, her ANGER and RAGE and DRIVE - you water down the very fundamentals of the story. you drastically and severely alter the core dynamics of the gaang, because katara was so important to the development of every single one of them. she was the rock and glue that held team avatar together.

katara was unlike any other character to ever appear on television; she was a young brown girl who took no shit from anyone, yet at the same time remained kind and compassionate and nurturing. katara was a force of nature; proud of her heritage and culture, burdened by the responsibility of being the last southern water bender of the water tribe, angered over the death of her mother and everything that the fire nation took from her, determined to help every single person in need, determined to change the world, angry and resentful because old men and rules and laws kept telling her what she could or could not do, thus, she was determined to restructure thousands of years of patriarchy that stood against her from accomplishing her goals and dreams.

watering down katara into at most 2-3 tangible characteristics, stripping her away of all her motivation and agency and nuance, telling the audience that she wants to help and change the world only to have her stand in the background with an air of grief, demonstrates that the writers of the live action fundamentally misunderstand the spirit of avatar. and that’s something so unforgivable. no matter how many changes they decide to make, or how much they decide to stay true to the original story in other areas, no matter how many flashy VFX fight scenes we get - if you fail to properly understand katara, you fail to understand the heart and soul of avatar the last airbender, everything that makes avatar such a timeless classic.

Let's Goooooooo

@observers-journal @luzsp9-1981 @cantstayawaycani @talokanda-forever @neoboha @soledadmiranda @aolechan @scoobydooisadetective @artintel001 @v4mpire-weekend

🦀 Kudos Crab 🦀

If you are scrolling and see Kudos Crab, your fics will be blessed!

You will get good comments and kudos!

You will beat your writers block!

GO AND WRITE!

ETA: additions to this post (and fic recs!) are in this tag!

YOU KNOW WHAT THE BEST THING EVER IS? IT’S SOULMATE AUS LIKE GOD DAMN I HAVE SEEN SO MANY ON FFN/LJ/AO3/TUMBLR OVER THE YEARS LIKE:

the one where you only see color once you meet your soulmate(s) (so you don’t know them until you see them), and it goes away when they die

the one where you don’t know your soulmate(s) until you touch them

the one where you don'y know your soulmate(s) until you hear them speak, or hear them speak a certain word; your name, for example

the one where you get the name of the person in their handwriting on your body somewhere at a certain age

the one where the first thing they say to you appears instead

the one where you get each others’ fingerprints

the one where you get matching marks/symbols/tattoos

the one where your marks or words that change depending on what’s going on with your soulmate(s)

the one with the clock that counts down the time until you meet your soulmate(s) (multiple clock for multiple soulmates? one click until you meet them both? unexpected third soulmate showing up after the clocks drop?)

the one where when you sleep you dream of whatever they’re experiencing from their point of view until you find them, or AFTER you find them

the one where you can straight up talk to them in dreams until/after you find them

the one where you form a telepathic/empathetic link until/after you find them

the one where you share extreme physical sensation until/after you find them; if one of you hurts the other one hurts, if one of you is getting lucky the other one gets a little hot and bothered

the one where the closer you are to them the more aware of them you become, and you find them playing a hot/cold game; for instance, colors get brighter and brighter the closer you are and fade into gray when they’re too far away

the one where once you turn a certain age/one night a year you swap bodies with them for one night and you have a limited amount of time to leave/collect clues to their identity

the one where being next to your soulmate(s) can heal you from things people don’t normally heal from

the one where only your soulmate(s) can kill you (maybe you can still be killed by age/disease, maybe not, maybe you become vulnerable only after you lose your soulmate(s))

the one where reincarnation is also a thing and meeting your soulmate(s) either unlocks or erases memories or your past lives until the next one

the one where in universes with magic meeting your soulmate(s) activates your powers/unlocks more powerful magic

SOULMATE AUS WITH COMPLICATIONS:

blind characters who can’t see if the world’s in color or black and white

characters like x-men’s rogue who literally can’t touch people; characters who have been through trauma who don’t want to touch people

hard of hearing characters like clint barton who can’t hear their soulmate speak without hearing aids/at all or on the flipside characters who can’t speak; maybe it still works in sign language, or maybe it doesn’t

people who can’t read/can’t read the language the words on their body are in

characters like bucky barnes who’ve lost hands and/or had their fingerprints removed

soulmate clocks that time out in the middle of the crowd; there’s an entire craigslist category for finding who else was there that day with a clock that timed out too

famous characters speaking to or performing for a crowd and suddenly their world is in color/their clock times out/etc and every member of the audience pretends to be this celebrity’s soulmate and a cinderella type situation ensues with the finding

soulmates playing the hot/cold game and they kEEP MISSING EACH OTHER

insomniacs who rarely sleep, much less at the same time/different time than their soulmates

soulmate ot3s/ot4s/otmores where you dream in varying people’s povs every time you sleep and get super confused

people who get sick or injured and frantically search for their soulmates so they can survive

people who need to be in medically induced comas and their soulmates have to stay away so they don’t accidentally wake them up

the one where soulbonding is actually a choice and someone chooses to bond with someone they may not know or like to save their lives and have to figure out if they can unbond or if they have to live with the situation (and of course learn to love one another either romantically or not)

new souls who don’t get memories of past lives because they don’t have one and panic

muggles/people without powers who of course CAN’T get them upgraded or unlocked

COMBINATION AUS:

the one where you one or both of you have to do all three (see your soulmate(s), touch your soulmate(s), hear your soulmate(s)), or all three have to happen at least once between the 2+ of you

or it’s completely random how you find your soulmate(s): one of you gets a name and the other gets a fingerprint, one of you has to hear your soulmate and one of you has to see them, etc; particularly useful if you happen to be blind or deaf

same for characters with other disabilities/who have “complications”: they get or find a different way of finding their soulmates, not better or worse, just different

THEN THERE’S SOULMATE AUS THAT DON’T HAVE TO CONFORM TO LIFELONG MONOGAMY:

the ones where you have more than one romantic soulmate at the same time or you get a new soulmate after the first dies

the ones where people have multiple soulmates of different types and it’s color coded; a red name/mark/etc for love, a blue one for friendship, etc; for the ones where you start seeing color you get a new one for each soulmate

the ones where some people have romantic soulmates and some don’t, and those that don’t are still perfectly happy anyway, maybe in a relationship anyway, maybe not

the ones where some people have multiple romantic soulmates who may or may not also be soulmates with each other

aromantic or asexual people who have soulmates who are not and they manage to work it out

romantic and sexual people who don’t have soulmates but find happiness anyway, either with someone like them or someone not like them

SOULMATE AUS THAT EXPLORE THE RAMIFICATIONS OF SOULMATES BEING A THING:

the ones where soulmates are for everyone and get legal aid to help stay together, like if their in-laws try to keep them apart/someone risks getting deported/someone gets drafted/whatever

the ones where soulmates are super super rare and TECHNICALLY get exempted from shitty things like “people of different races/the same sex/etc can’t get married/have relations/etc” but maybe still face a lot of prejudice and they fight to get those types of awful laws lifted for everyone

agencies that exist to help you find your soulmate(s) or figure out which soulmate thing you have but some of them are just shams, bonus points for this being in a verse where the thing is exceedingly rare to begin with

people pretending to be soulmates to take advantage of the laws, for good or ill; the couple who loves just as fiercely as a soulmates who will do anything to stay together, or the shitty people who try to claim they’re mated to people who’ve rejected them so they “have” to stay together

tabloid mags photoshopping matching soulmate marks or following big legal cases where someone tries to prove or disprove that they are soulmates with someone else

soulmates in universes where they’re a rarity or rare soulmate types like ot3s/ot4s/otmores in dodging government officials because they don’t want to become lab rats

people who don’t believe in soulmates until it happens to them, or people who believe hardcore and want to find theirs but they don’t necessarily have one, or don’t have a romantic one

little rituals that make finding your soulmate more likely, like shaking hands with people as often as possible even with the cashier ringing up your groceries, repeating each other’s names after you’re introduced, etc

just give me alllll the soulmate aus ok, give me people finding each other in spite of complications, give me all the delightful plot twists, give me detailed worlds where this changes the norms, give me it working out in the end whether romantically or not, bonded or not

feel free to reblog with sources! (or MORE AUS.) a little over half of these are things i’ve seen elsewhere over time and i cannot remember where they are all from

haha or if you’re into this sorta thing you could just take pity on me and reblog it anyway this took an embarrassingly long time to type up oh my god ;;;;;;;;;