Researchers Find Pirate TV Devices Crammed With Malware

Piracy & Malware

In recent years, the ability to pirate films or TV online has become more than a little difficult. This is largely due to crackdowns on various websites and countries internet service providers looking to limit access available to the more dubious aspects of the internet. This is, however, usually via PCs or laptops.

As such, one of the more popular means of promoting ‘easy access’ piracy has been via jail broken streaming devices. A good example of this is with Amazon Firesticks pre-sold with piracy enabled software ready to go. We should, of course, note that this is certainly not something that Amazon does directly.

In a report via CNET, however, you might want to rethink this. Why? Well, researchers have found that many of the devices are absolutely crammed with malware.

Research

Digital Citizens Alliance (DCA) and Dark Wolfe Consulting inspected 6 of the most popular devices currently being sold online offering access to illegal streams and/or pirated content.

The researchers found that around 40% of the apps pre-installed programs contained malware. In the more disturbing instances, malware which could potentially be used to access your in-home security cameras or microphones via the wireless network. On the whole, it’s rather worrying stuff and a factor most probably had never considered.

Very Little Is Ever Truly Free

The DCA issued a rather blunt warning stating that: “You have a choice, you can either have free movies, or your bank account. When you bring one of these into your home, you’ve escorted a hacker past your security.”

In fairness, most people realise that the use of such devices comes with certain risks. Namely, that if you watch pirated content you are breaking the law. As such, you can potentially face some pretty severe punishment if caught in possession of one.

With the revelation that these devices may contain more than just access to pirated online content, however, it might be enough to make more than a few people question their usage. There is, as the saying goes, no such thing as a free meal.

What do you think? Do you own such a device? If so, are you worried about it containing malware? – Let us know in the comments!