Piracy can involve tampered software and deceptive distribution sites that expose users to malware, credential theft, and other security risks.
Search across headline titles and summaries.
Background for this topic.
Piracy is the unauthorized copying, modification, or distribution of copyrighted digital material, including software, games, films, music, books, and documents. In security reporting, the term commonly covers cracked software, illicit streaming or download sites, and unauthorized sharing networks—not maritime crime.
Pirated software and media are material security concerns because modified installers, key generators, and fake downloads may contain credential stealers, remote-access malware, or unwanted persistence; piracy sites can also expose users to malicious advertising and phishing. The risk is not universal, but untrusted distribution undermines normal code provenance and patching. Organizations should obtain software through authorized channels, verify publisher signatures or hashes where available, inventory and remove unauthorized applications, and investigate suspicious installations as potential security incidents. Unlicensed use can also create software-asset and licensing compliance issues, particularly where unsupported versions cannot receive security updates.
Weekly headline count for the current query.
A financially motivated operation uses lures of cracked or pirated software to deliver a two-for-one malware combo for data theft and cryptomining.
A phishing campaign targeting healthcare, government, hospitality, and education sectors in various countries uses several evasion techniques to avoid detection.
Threat actors are targeting people searching for pirated or cracked software with fake downloaders that include infostealing malware such as Lumma and Vidar.
Attackers are triggering victims' deep-seated fear of getting in trouble in order to spread the sophisticated stealer across continents.
The global Internet helps just about everything to scale more easily, including piracy and ad fraud.
Threat actor behind the Activator macOS backdoor is using pirated apps to distribute the malware in what could be a botnet-building operation.
A new version of the infamous browser extension is spreading through files on websites offering pirated wares, and leverages unique persistence mechanisms.
With the rise of cybercriminals targeting online piracy, this year's Oscar-nom fans need to be especially careful not to download malicious files while attempting to watch popular films for free.
The number of people who have made the weaponized software available for sharing via torrent suggests that many unsuspecting victims may have downloaded the XMRig coin miner.
Business users receive a message from Facebook warning their accounts will be permanently suspended for using photos illegally if they don't appeal within 24 hours, leading victims to a credential-harvesting page instead.
A novel campaign is using an emerging URL redirection tactic to try to trick business users and others into clicking on an embedded link and giving up credentials.
Malware-laced ads are hauling in tens of millions of dollars in revenue for operators of pirated-content sites — posing a real risk to enterprises from remote employees.
The malware targets Windows users via Trojanized downloads of cracked or pirated software and then starts in on cryptocurrency mining and clipboard hijacking.