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Dev
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
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 Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 2:29 pm Post subject: How Safe Are Torrents? |
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| If you use torrents to dowload movies, how safe is it? Can you catch some nasty viruses & spyware? |
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morrisonhotel
Joined: 18 Jul 2009
Location: Gyeonggi-do
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| Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 2:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Never had any problems. The only time I've ever had a problem with downloading movies is when it wasn't indicated that the movie was dubbed in another language. That can be particularly frustrating. |
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crsandus
Joined: 05 Oct 2004
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| Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 5:22 pm Post subject: |
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I had only one instance of a torrent movie being suspicious (it happened a couple weeks ago) and I've downloaded plenty of movies. I think you'll be safe. When I doubled clicked the suspect movie, it'd take me to a fake WMP website saying I was missing a codec when I know darn well I have nearly every codec under the sun. If I was missing one, I wouldn't be directed to a knockoff microsoft site.
Last edited by crsandus on Sun Jan 24, 2010 5:25 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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crescent
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: yes.
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| Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 5:23 pm Post subject: Re: How Safe Are Torrents? |
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| Dev wrote: |
| If you use torrents to dowload movies, how safe is it? Can you catch some nasty viruses & spyware? |
Sure you can. You should scan everything you download with an antivirus application. Even with a mac i still scan, primarily for spyware.
If you download from torrent site that have a way of signifying 'trusted' members' then you can worry much less, but generally checking the comments that people leave on torrent submissions, you can get an idea what files are ok. Even The Piratebay has system to show what uploaders have trusted reputations.
As a general practice, torrent downloading is safe, though. Each download has to pass a 'hashcheck' which means the information can't readily be altered by other downloaders. |
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darkjedidave
Joined: 19 Aug 2009
Location: Shanghai/Seoul
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| Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 5:34 pm Post subject: |
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| i have a cheapo PC just for downloading torrents. I never use it for any secure sites (banking, log in info, etc) therefore, no threat if security is breached. Only had to wipe it once in 2 years. |
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eschoonard
Joined: 14 Jan 2010
Location: CT, USA
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| Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 2:07 pm Post subject: |
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| I use torrents in the states all the time. As long as you're careful you'll be fine. My question (noob moving to Korea in Aug) is how legal they are in Korea? |
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crescent
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: yes.
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| Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 4:49 pm Post subject: |
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| eschoonard wrote: |
| I use torrents in the states all the time. As long as you're careful you'll be fine. My question (noob moving to Korea in Aug) is how legal they are in Korea? |
Media sharing is illegal, but not enforced in the torrent world, locally. Yet. |
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Gaber
Joined: 23 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 5:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Quite. Just make sure you got a decent free virus checker and firewall. The vast majority of stuff out there is clean. Also, if you stick to movie and audio files (.mp3, .ogg, .mov, .avi, .wmv and so on) you're pretty much guaranteed safety as it is mainly just executable files that can harbor viruses. |
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buildbyflying
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: To your right. No, your other right.
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| Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:59 pm Post subject: |
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| btjunkie.com and vertor.com are good for weeding out the riff raff. |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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| Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 10:39 pm Post subject: |
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Good free software that works well together:
1. Microsoft Security Essentials
2. Comodo Firewall (don't install the rest of it -- choose only the firewall portion when setting up. Comodo's AV offering isn't good).
3. A weekly or bi-weekly scan with Malwarebytes is a good idea, too. |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 10:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Gaber wrote: |
| Quite. Just make sure you got a decent free virus checker and firewall. The vast majority of stuff out there is clean. Also, if you stick to movie and audio files (.mp3, .ogg, .mov, .avi, .wmv and so on) you're pretty much guaranteed safety as it is mainly just executable files that can harbor viruses. |
Spot on...........video and audio files can't actually hold a virus.....it's only if you've downloaded a folder which contained a .exe file which you then opened (doh!) can you get a virus from a torrent. |
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Confused Canadian
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 1:15 am Post subject: |
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| eamo wrote: |
| Gaber wrote: |
| Quite. Just make sure you got a decent free virus checker and firewall. The vast majority of stuff out there is clean. Also, if you stick to movie and audio files (.mp3, .ogg, .mov, .avi, .wmv and so on) you're pretty much guaranteed safety as it is mainly just executable files that can harbor viruses. |
Spot on...........video and audio files can't actually hold a virus.....it's only if you've downloaded a folder which contained a .exe file which you then opened (doh!) can you get a virus from a torrent. |
Though you're not nearly as likely to pick up a virus from an audio, video, or jpg, it's not unheard of:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/1343677.html
Not trying to create panic, but to claim that "video and audio files can't actually hold a virus" is inaccurate. |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 2:06 am Post subject: |
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| Confused Canadian wrote: |
| eamo wrote: |
| Gaber wrote: |
| Quite. Just make sure you got a decent free virus checker and firewall. The vast majority of stuff out there is clean. Also, if you stick to movie and audio files (.mp3, .ogg, .mov, .avi, .wmv and so on) you're pretty much guaranteed safety as it is mainly just executable files that can harbor viruses. |
Spot on...........video and audio files can't actually hold a virus.....it's only if you've downloaded a folder which contained a .exe file which you then opened (doh!) can you get a virus from a torrent. |
Though you're not nearly as likely to pick up a virus from an audio, video, or jpg, it's not unheard of:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/1343677.html
Not trying to create panic, but to claim that "video and audio files can't actually hold a virus" is inaccurate. |
Good info on that thread. I was just saying that a legit audio or video file, e.g. .MP3 or .AVI can't in itself contain a virus. But viruses can indeed be lashed onto them.
In 13 years of downloading I've never got a virus from an audio or video file in itself. I have got viruses from websites and emails though.
This poster from that thread seems to know what he's talking about......
How do they put viruses in a video?
as the poster previously replied, the moive.avi.exe is a common one. windows by default hide extentions of known file types (the exe part) and so it just appears as movie.avi in exporter.
though if you did have a valid avi file, the same windows would just show "movie" as the file name.
another approach is similar and tricks you even better uses media player, so the file will be something like
movie.avi.mpg
or
movie.mpg (but as the OP is using avi, this one is quite as relevant, but still works).
on running it, media player starts up and says it needs a codec. when you press "ok" (or if you have auto codec download enabled), then media player will download the virus for you that will run when the file is played (it uses either a fault in media player or decoding codecs that contain the exe program).
overall, turning off "hide known externtions" in explorer and not using media player and scaning what you download are about your best line of final defence. The first is to check the torrent file before downloading it (looking for the exe or similar files) and/or reading comments and/or only get them from a site you trust.
it's possible to get viruses downloading torrents but rare and your AV and even media player should be on top of it. |
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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 3:19 am Post subject: |
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eamo wrote:
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| turning off "hide known externtions" in explorer |
eamo is right.
Scanning is vital. You should do it for everything. You should do it before you unzip a file, and after you unzip a file.
But you need to know what type of file you actually download. And to do that you need to change your settings on Windows to display the file type extension.
Say you download a copy of a magazine in PDF form. It looks like a PDF file in Windows. You open it by clicking on it. Only it's not a PDF, it's an .exe file. You didn't see the .exe because your computer was not set to display the full file extension. Next thing you know, you're infected.
So any so-called PDF, even say Readers Digest or a recipe for tortillas, might be actually be an .exe file. Heck, it could be labeled to look like an .avi file, or anything if you don't see the real file type.
The other tricky part is that keygens often set off false virus alerts. But any program with a complex set of files could harbor a virus. I suspect bootleg copies of Windows may have them.
And there's an alternative compressed type of file to an .iso that supposedly is a common method of transmitting viruses. I forget what it is, though. It is often used to package a bunch of existing torrent files. So be suspicious of file types that are not common.
If in doubt, throw it out. Want to delete a file permanently? Hold down the shift button while you click delete.
Yes, you can get infected. So the best bet is don't download unless you are prepared to re-install your operating system without losing data files.
New torrents are more risky than ones that have been around a few months. New releases of Nero burning software seem to be common problems. Odd.
Some torrents are legal. A lot of old movies and tv shows are out of copyright. Even old music. Don't know the exact rules, though.
Last edited by Gatsby on Tue Jan 26, 2010 4:12 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Chris_Dixon
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 3:54 am Post subject: |
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| crescent wrote: |
| eschoonard wrote: |
| I use torrents in the states all the time. As long as you're careful you'll be fine. My question (noob moving to Korea in Aug) is how legal they are in Korea? |
Media sharing is illegal, but not enforced in the torrent world, locally. Yet. |
Huh, yeah your right...Korea has some stiff punishments for illegalling downloading things...it being enforced is another matter entirely-However my missus reckons that people get in trouble alot for it here
Anyone had a cease and desist notice? Happening alot in America these days...
Safest way is to use a private site, however invites are usually limited. Despite this your chances of being caught or infected are pretty slim....esp with good spyware (which you can get for free) |
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