Report: How consumers engage with pirate apps; ad-funded vectors for malware

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Source: AVIA

Time to Compromise, a report from the Asia Video Industry Assocation (AVIA) and Dr Paul Watters, CEO of Cyberstronomy, illustrates consumer engagement with fraudulent apps and finds that it typically takes 42 seconds for Windows users to be infected by ‘Advanced Persistent Threats;’ and for Android users, 1 minute and 18 seconds.  It supports the claim that there is a correlation between piracy and malware infections.

Pirate operators receive revenue by placing malicious ads, and malware developers gain access to consumer PCs and mobile devices and their associated data; including log-in details.  Malware can also spread in home and business networks, and place consumers at legal risk by signing them up to proxy servers that may be used to inflict Distributed Denial of Service and other attacks.

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The report is available to AVIA members

Why it matters

Time to Compromise notes that consumer education can remind people that many ‘free’ services are actually fraudulent businesses with malicious intent.  Illicit streaming apps and Web sites generate an estimated $1.3 billion in fraudulent ad revenue annually, according to Breaking [B]ads: How Advertiser-Supported Piracy Helps Fuel a Booming Multi-billion Dollar Illegal Market, a 2021 report published by the Digital Citizens Alliance and White Bullet Solutions.

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