Cyber Criminals Offer Free Movies, Make You Pay Later

Friday, March 1, 2019

(NAPSA)—The average American household now hasnine Internet-enabled devices to connect to the Internet, watch movies ortelevision shows, or “smarten” the thermostats, doorbells or nanny cams. These products let people save energy, buy groceries, connect with family members andaccess a seemingly limitless catalog of entertainment. Its important, however, to realize that some devices maynot beas secure as others. For example,millions ofrogue entertainment boxes are now in homes. While these devices look like an Apple TVor Roku box,they are unsecured and can expose consumers to malware. Typ- Don't letpirates into your premis- pirated movies, TV showsorlive events. ‘TheDigital Citizens Alliance (DCA) avoid rogue entertainment equipmentthatillegally accesses TV shows and movies. researchers’ user names and passwords, probed user networks and surrepti- to malware. “Criminals use trickery to network, and if they did know, they enticementoffree moviesandtelevision showson products without a reputable companybehind themcreatesa fertile ground for malware to spread.Ifit is too good to betrue,it probablyis.” Keeping an eye on the devices that are brought into your home, includ- ically, they are usedto illegally access es: To protect your cyber devices, investigated apps on these devices and found malware on them thatstole tiously uploaded user data without consent. Most consumersare unawareofthe security risks that can occur when plugging one of these devices into a home would be much less likely to allow them in their home. Recently, the Federal Trade Com- mission warned consumers about these devices: “Ifyou wantto avoid download- ing malware when you stream video, don't watchpirated content. Period. Not online and not through a video stream- ingdevice” Foryears, hackers haveused pirated content as a lure to expose consumers enterinto consumers’ homes,” said Tom, Galvin,executive director of DCA. “The ingby yourchildren,is critical to your cyber safety. Consumers who stream pirated contentare six times morelikely to report an issue with malware than those who don’tusepiracy devices. ‘The lure offree pirated content can be tempting,butthere is a hidden price to be paid.

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