If you’ve ever tried to illegally stream something that hasn’t been released in Australia yet, you’ll be very familiar with the fake popups, suspicious URLs and dodgy redirects which try their darnedest to infect your computer with malware and/or hot MILFs in your area.
Because of this, pirating Ace Ventura could just be the riskiest thing you do in iso. The movie ranked at the top of a list of riskiest illegal downloads created by cybersecurity company McAfee. A Star Is Born and Fyre weren’t far behind in the rankings.
For TV shows, series like Unorthodox, Family Guy and Brooklyn Nine-Nine pose the biggest malware risk when it comes to pirating, according to the company. It said new releases in general were typically targetted by cybercriminals for stealing personal data.
“With over three quarters of Aussies watching TV and over two thirds browsing the internet to pass the time during lockdowns, advice to stay at home has created the perfect environment for web crime,” Alex Merton-McCann, an online consumer safety expert at McAfee, said.
“Cyber criminals are quick to use consumer trends and behaviours to ensure their scam strategies are extra timely and convincing.
“Any link could very well lead to malicious websites that infect devices or steal valuable, personal information, so should think before you click.”
McAfee used the same method most people use to pirate movies and TV shows: they searched the title plus phrases such as “free download”, “torrent” and “pirated download”. The movies and TV shows were then ranked by how many dodgy or “high-risk” links their searches returned.
Your safest bet, according to McAfee, is to simply pay for a proper streaming service like Stan or Netflix, or rent it via a service like iTunes. Paying for content means supporting creators, which, aside from being fair, ultimately means more people can produce more films and TV shows to watch.
The riskiest TV shows to pirate:
- Unorthodox
- You
- Family Guy
- Big Mouth
- Homeland
- The Vampire Diaries
- Dynasty
- Lost
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine
- Stranger Things
The riskiest movies to pirate:
- Ace Ventura
- Green Book
- John Wick
- Machinist
- Annihilation
- Ex Machina
- A Star Is Born
- Fyre
- Lady Macbeth
- Bird Box
