Peer-to-peer technologies like eDonkey, BitTorrent and Gnutella allow anyone to connect with those networks and download any kind of media material, as easily as clicking a download button.
The usage of file-sharing services had exponential growth across the years at the same time as the risks for users were dramatically increased. BitTorrent is a protocol for distributing files. It identifies content by URL and is designed to integrate persistently with the Web. Its advantage over plain HTTP is that it allows multiple simultaneous downloads of the same resource. The downloaders upload to each other, making it possible for the file source to support very large numbers of downloaders with only a modest increase in its load.
Today, BitTorrent is the most common technology to share digital materials in spite of any type of limitation imposed by the copyright regulations. Through BitTorrent, it is possible to download every type of files: movies, TV shows, songs, software and games.
Unfortunately, the freedom and the ease of downloading desired content could pose serious risks for unaware users. They often get infected with malicious code hidden behind a torrent. Everyone who wants to download media from the BitTorrent infrastructure has to search for the desired content using specialty search engines, the most popular one being The Pirate Bay:. The Pirate Bay is historically the most famous and important torrent search engine, due to its history and all the legal issues it faced in the last decade.
The site has been seized and reopened many times over the years due to legal disputes with private firms and the Swedish government. However, The Pirate Bay is still alive today. The site has over 2. Each user visits 5. Other popular famous torrent search engines are x, Rarbg and LimeTorrents. However, there are many dangers for unskilled users, and it is quite easy to get in trouble. Downloaded material often includes malicious code that could deliver malware or allow crooks to carry out other dangerous activities.
The most popular game of the past year is Fortnite. It has not been officially released on the Android Market and today is still in Beta release and available only for few device models. But, despite that limitation, many users try to search for this game on illegal channels in order to download it and play on their smartphone.
It presents itself as the beta version of Fortnite, but when we insert the hash of the downloaded file on VirusTotal, we have the following result:. Reverse engineering the app, we noticed that the app requests all permissions, even the ability to access critical ones like sending and receiving SMS, camera, Bluetooth, set wallpaper, manage call, kill other applications and so on.
Digging further into the analysis, we decompiled the application and studied its source code. We discovered a routine used by the malware to establish the connection with its Command and Control:. The malware is also able to intercept the incoming messages, collect them and store them in its private repository, which is sent to the server:.
How many times someone did you download from the Web? By clicking on the highlighted results, we are redirected to the following webpage where it is possible to download the torrent:.
Malware is common in many instances when it comes to computers and sharing data. It is always advised that you have some kind of cybersecurity to protect you from invasive threats to your computer or device. This can be a dangerous game that can lead to serious issues regarding your information and data security.
Use an anti-virus service or program to scan the file to see if it is a threat to your computer or not. Keep your files and stored information secure with some of the most popular anti-virus protection available online:. Another serious risk of using torrents to download content is the possibility of losing your important data.
The stored data that is on your device can be compromised when you are downloading files from a torrent, especially if you are using the same folder for all of your files. To avoid this you can simply use a different folder for your torrent downloads and another for your stored files on your computer. You can use a form of antivirus protection to give the security of your files from outsiders.
Overall, the use of torrents can be greatly beneficial for those who are looking to maximize download speeds and limit the number of congestion files can cause to your network. Think about the possible data breaches that happen to professional establishments and medical facilities due to cybercriminals when there isnt a use of torrents.
You are more secure with cybersecurity but you should always double-check your downloads and practice safe P2P sharing. You can easily be exposed to cybercriminals online that can cause detrimental losses. Torrents are reliable, fast, and an effective way to download files from internet. Besides using torrent clients, users also tend to use different VPN services to anonymise their torrenting activities, as most of the time it becomes a risky business because of the content being downloaded.
Having said that there are some negative aspects or risks too that are involved while downloading, uploading, or sharing a torrent file. Read along and find out. One of the most common risks that torrent users tend to face is that of malware. Such an act of downloading virus-affected torrent files can easily cripple down your computer system. There is only a single way out to this: After downloading a torrent file, you should always scan it and use a trusted anti-virus program in order to assess and check if the file is infected with malware content.
The files downloaded are basically maintained by various users who share, upload or download those files, often simultaneously. Apart from using all kinds of torrent clients, people also use various proxy and VPN services, for instance, a limetorrents proxy etc. This is because there are major risks involved in downloading or uploading torrents in the absence of a VPN or a proxy service.
In fact, ISPs also monitor them on a regular basis. Any trace of downloading illegal torrent files or copyrighted material can lead to legal consequences.
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