Want some malware? Visit a piracy website and have fun, report says

The majority of online piracy websites visited in the United Kingdom spread some type of malware or other computer bug, according to research.

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Research indicates a whopping 90 percent of the top 30 most visited Internet piracy websites in the United Kingdom contained some form of malware or "Potentially Unwanted Programs" (PUPs) to compromise user systems.

Want some malware? Visit a piracy website and have fun, report says | TweakTown.com

The piracy sites often rely on social engineering techniques to trick users into clicking fraudulent links: "These fake play buttons, and that sort of thing, are very much driven by the desire of people to download content," said according to the group. "We view it as a kind of social engineering attack on the users who are tricked into downloading stuff."

In an ongoing effort to combat piracy, copyright holders might have more success trying to inform users of the security threats they open themselves up to when downloading content - it would be a unique twist on sometimes rudimentary scare tactics.

Regardless, cybercriminals will continue to use piracy - and online pornography sites - as effective methods to compromise website visitors and users downloading content.

An experienced tech journalist and marketing specialist, Michael joins TweakTown to cover everything from cars & electric vehicles to solar and green energy topics. A former Staff Writer at DailyTech, Michael is now the Cars & Electric Vehicles News Reporter and will contribute news stories on a daily basis. In addition to contributing here, Michael also runs his own tech blog, AlamedaTech.com, while he looks to remain busy in the tech world.

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