The Asia Video Industry Association’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) commended the Singapore High Court, whose Order was obtained by CAP members BBC Studios, Discovery Communications, LaLiga, the Premier League and TVB International; against illegal streaming sites that were offering access to some of the most sought-after content including premium sports, drama and entertainment.
The Order covered the greatest number of sites and domains yet sought by CAP members. Under the Order Internet Service Providers must disable access to these illegal sites and their associated domains.
Piracy begets malware
CAP’s recent study, “Time to Compromise,” showed that a typical user visiting illegal streaming sites could be infected by ransomware, several trojan horses, and other Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) within 42 seconds on a Windows machine, and 78 seconds for an Android device.
In other words, the paper’s title refers to the short length of time it takes for a device to be compromised, and does not contend that it’s “time to compromise” with pirates!
The study’s results support the claim that there’s a correlation between illegal streaming sites and malware infections, where site operators generate significant revenue from allowing malicious ads to be placed on their sites. Malware authors can in turn gain access to consumer PCs and mobile devices, and all of the data held in storage, including access to banking login details and other sensitive logins.
Read the full AVIA-CAP news release
Why it matters
“Illegal streaming sites are simply illegal,” said CAP’s new General Manager, Matthew Cheetham. “Piracy is not a victimless crime and hurts not only content providers but also consumers who can be exposed to viruses and malware when accessing illegal sites, including malware that can access a user’s sensitive data such as banking details”.
[ This article was adapted from the AVIA-CAP press release, which was issued March 1st Asia time, February 28th US Pacific time ]
