AVIA, together with Dr Paul Watters, CEO of Cyberstronomy, has released a report, “Time to Compromise” which replicates the user journey for consumers who access piracy apps and streaming websites, with a specific view to understanding the scale and risk for these consumers, as well as outline some strategies to reduce risk for consumers, and indicate regulatory measures which may assist in a large-scale reduction of malware infection, by reducing the accessibility of these sites, reducing the rewards, and making such sites more difficult to operate.
A recent study found that educating consumers about malware risks from visiting piracy sites or using piracy apps could reduce malware infections by 31%. This study used variables linking demographic data, cybersecurity knowledge and perceived risks from a sample of more than 5,000 people around the Asia-Pacific region.
In this study, the objective was to see if consumer perceptions about malware risk and piracy were true (or not), by simulating a user who visited these sites to view streamed content, and then to examine what actual malware infections were encountered. The prediction was that malware would be installed, potentially leading to devices being ransomed, malicious advertising being displayed, or user identities being stolen through credentials being stolen.
Read the full report to know more about How Cyber Criminals use Ads to Compromise Devices through Piracy Websites and Apps.