Risk of ransomware when accessing pirated movie sites

Ransomware has been found attached to advertisements on pirated movie websites. If the victim accidentally clicks on these malicious ads, after the virus steals their data, they are threatened to pay a ransom.

According to a survey by Verisite, direct download sites and content streaming sites are the two most popular types of pirated websites in Vietnam. These sites have millions of views, and direct download sites also participate in video streaming.

There are usually two types of ads that appear on illegal websites: legitimate brands and small, less-known brands, even services that are banned from advertising or distribution in Vietnam. For example, ads with malware linked to illegal football betting sites.

Pirated movie sites contain a lot of malware that steals user information.

It can be said that legitimate brands, especially famous brands, will suffer or become victims when placing advertisements on these copyright-infringing sites. They suffer huge losses in reputation when advertising agencies place their advertisements on illegal websites, or are associated with malware, gambling, and pornography, and many brands do not even know that their advertisements will appear on those websites when signing the contract.

The problem is becoming more serious because it is so widespread. According to a survey by Verisite, of the 113 ads found on 47 pirated websites, 55% were ads for well-known brands, classified as “Legitimate Brands”, while the remaining 45% were malicious ads, associated with malware, pornography, dating sites and other illegal products.

These ads ran on 47 pirated websites of 49 online ad networks, 13 ad agencies and 10 ad exchanges.

It is clear that pirated websites are causing heavy losses to the creative industry. Copyright owners have continuously advised users not to access pirated websites, but in reality, users still access them and as a result, they get no benefits or have to pay high prices.

Parents who previously considered accessing websites harmless need to think again. Ads from the sex industry often link to pornographic websites that cater to young adults or minors, even if they originally intended to view movies or other non-pornographic content.

Malware often consists of viruses attached to video files such as remote control software. These software will help criminals steal passwords such as credit card passwords, personal information and other computer data. Once downloaded, they will allow criminals to control the victim's computer webcam, turn on the lights, record audio, video and monitor everything they see through the webcam.

Ransomware has also been found embedded in advertisements on pirated movie websites and is programmed to encrypt all files and data on the victim’s computer. Once encrypted, the victim is presented with a web page that threatens to delete all data if the victim does not pay the ransom within a certain period of time.

According to Verisite's research, there are 51 malicious ads running on 31 pirated websites, many of which contain malware, pornography, gambling, and illegal activities.

58% of the malicious ads were detected on video streaming sites, 42% on direct download sites. The total number of visits to these sites is around 19,000 per day.

The report also found one ad containing free malware running on 16 pirated websites and spreading viruses to computers that received the ads, the rest were auto-downloaded adware, annoying users with pages that displayed annoying ads. One website was also found to contain dangerous ads, with malware via Flash player.exe files – a malware that is automatically downloaded onto the user’s system.

According to ICT News