A new piece of ransomware locks the files of infected computers until its victims play a round of the popular battle-royale shooter, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG).

The malware, called "PUBG Ransomware", was first discovered by MalwareHunterTeam. Like other types of ransomware, it works by encrypting the user’s files to make them inaccessible until the victim does something that will decrypt them. Unlike other types of ransomware, this one does not involve the extortion of money, but simply wants the victim to play PUBG for an hour.

According to the MalwareHunterTeam, PUBG ransomware works by scanning the computer’s running processes for the “TslGame.exe” process, which assumedly triggers whenever the  PUBG game is launch. Once the user plays the game, the ransomware will automatically decrypt the victim's files.

PUBG ransomware is not too advanced as it only looks for the process name and does not check for other information to confirm that the game is actually being played. That means that the victim can simply run any executable called “TslGame.exe” and it will decrypt the files.

Although this ransomware appears to be a joke, protecting yourself from ransomware should be a serious consideration. PUBG Ransomware may serve as a reminder for users to maintain reliable security software on their computers and to avoid shady links that may download ransomware.

If users are not careful, the next ransomware that they come across might not just be asking for a game of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.