Think twice before downloading pirated 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' movie

Movie file is said to come laced with crypto mining malware and affect the computer's performance

Though there is a ban on movie piracy, torrent websites continue to thrive on the internet. Consumers using devious ways including VPN apps, download several popular movies and TV series.

But, many don't understand that some cybercriminals in the garb to attract potential victims, set up fake torrent websites to offer entertainment content, which also comes laced with malware.

In the latest instance, bad actors are making good use of the Spider-Man: No Way Home's popular prey on naive users. The new Marvel movie has already grossed $1 billion in revenue from ticket sales and is named the blockbuster of the year.

While many are lining up theaters to catch the Spider-Man on the screen, others are preferring to watch it under the cozy comfort of home.

However, ReasonsLab has reported that threat actors are offering malware-laced movie files on fake websites. The trojan is said to be very good in avoiding detection from Windows Defender on PCs, as it uses ‘legitimate' names for the files and processes.

Once inside the PC, it is said to activate bots in the PC to mine cryptocurrency. Though there is no report of threat to the PC owner's data, the bots send the processor into stress and affect the normal operation on the computer and consume more power, without the owner ever knowing it. Unless there is good security software on the computer to detect the malware.

How cryptocurrency is mined?
Cryptocurrency mining is a process of solving complex puzzles and this is power-intensive work. It needs a network of computers to work together to solve the puzzle and earn rewards.

So, in this case, cybercriminals try to hijack computers to make use of the system's CPU and sometimes GPU and put them to work to mine cryptocurrency.

Readers have been advised to be wary of downloading any files from websites developed by an unknown publisher and also, it not a good practice to watch pirated movies. Be a good citizen and watch it in theaters. Or if you are ready to wait longer, the new Spider-Man movie will certainly make its way to any of legal platforms such as Disney+Hot Star or Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, or other Over-The-Top apps in the near future.

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