Downloading pirated 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' torrents may expose your PC to cryptominers
Can't wait to watch Spider-Man: No Way Home? Well, here's something you should consider as you wait in anticipation: wait for the film in theaters instead of downloading a torrent online.
Cybersecurity firm ReasonLab found Monero miners attached to Russian torrent files of the new movie using it to spread malware. The miner is said to be good at avoiding detection from Windows Defender on PCs, as it uses "legitimate" names for the files and processes.
"The malware tries to stay away from examining eyes, by using 'legitimate' names for the files and processes that it creates. We recommend taking extra caution when downloading content of any kind from non-official sources—whether it's a document in an email from an unknown sender, a cracked program from a fishy download portal, or a file from a torrent download," the company told ZDNet.
They also offered tips on how to protect yourself from cryptominers such as checking the file extension matches the file you are expecting. For instance, if you're downloading a movie, the file should end with ".mp4," not ".exe."
What is cryptomining?
While cryptominers don't compromise your personal information, they can cause other kinds of damage.
This kind of malware activates bots in your PC to mine cryptocurrency, which can stress and affect the normal operation of your computer. This will also cause your PC to consume more power without you knowing it.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is one of the biggest movies released in the pandemic era, making $1 billion at the global box office.