Across six Spanish-speaking countries analyzed in Latin America, piracy platforms consistently exposed users to substantially higher cybersecurity risks than legitimate services. This, according to a study conducted by cybersecurity expert Dr. Paul A Watters of Macquarie University and Cyberstronomy Pty Ltd., commissioned and released by ACE. A separate report about Brazil was released separately by the same sources.
The Spanish-speaking countries studied were Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, and Chile. While the absolute level of risk varied by market and piracy type, the overall pattern was consistent: illegal streaming sites, P2P networks, IPTV services, and scam portals all represented persistent vectors for malware infection, credential theft, financial fraud, and data compromise. These findings underscore that piracy related cyber risk is a regionwide phenomenon rather than a market specific anomaly.
Hundreds of piracy websites across multiple service categories were analyzed using threat-intelligence data, which was aggregated across more than 90 global security providers.
“Digital piracy today exposes consumers to malware, financial fraud, and the theft of personal data. Combating piracy is essential to protecting consumers and strengthening the digital economy,” said Larissa Knapp, Executive Vice President and Chief Content Protection Officer for the Motion Picture Association’s Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE).
Key findings
Streaming and peer-to-peer (P2P) piracy platforms were the most dangerous, with some posing up to 131 times higher cyber risk.
• Piracy websites were more than 21 times riskier than legitimate websites on average, rising to nearly 40 times higher risk in worst‑case scenarios.
• Scam piracy sites increasingly function solely as malware and fraud delivery portals.
• None of the countries studied exhibited environments safe from piracy.
• In the worst-case scenario, P2P piracy sites were 85 times riskier than legitimate websites in Mexico, followed by Scam piracy sites (61x) and Streaming piracy sites (58x).
In Mexico, consumers using piracy platforms faced on average more than a 30‑fold increase in cyber‑threat exposure compared to mainstream legitimate websites, including exposure to malware, spyware, ransomware, cryptojacking, and phishing attacks. In the worst-case scenario, consumers using piracy sites faced on average more than a 50-fold increase in cyber-threat exposure compared to mainstream legitimate websites.
Why they matter
Latin America’s piracy ecosystem exhibits the same structural vulnerabilities, monetization models, and infection vectors observed globally. The results demonstrate that cyber risk in this environment is predictable, preventable, and addressable through coordinated interventions. Research confirms that decisive, systematic blocking can meaningfully reduce consumer exposure, while behavioral deterrence tools – such as warning systems and chatbots – offer scalable, non-punitive means of influencing user choices. Collectively, these strategies underscore that effective piracy mitigation is not merely a copyright objective but a cybersecurity and public-safety imperative.
This study underscores the need for coordinated action by governments, enforcement agencies, internet service providers, and industry stakeholders to address piracy as a cybersecurity and consumer‑protection challenge through education, enforcement, and cooperation.
Further reading
Consumer risk from piracy in Latin America. Research report. Released April 2026. Paul A Watters PhD, Macquarie University and Cyberstronomy Pty Ltd. Released by Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), Motion Picture Association
New studies reveal major cybersecurity risks for piracy consumers across Latin America. Press release. April 30, 2026. Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE)
