One third of pirate sites give you viruses By Kevin Downey

 Do you watch streaming TV shows and movies? If so, you're like a lot of people.

In fact, about 56% of people now say they stream movies and 53% stream TV shows, according to a survey that came out earlier this year. Just 45% of people now say they prefer to watch TV shows as they're airing.

No doubt, many of that streaming is from legal services that you pay for, like Netflix, which has 69 million worldwide subscribers. But, even if you are visiting only legal streaming sites, you probably know someone who streams illegal content, like current box office movies on sites you've never heard of.

Of course, that's not the right thing to do. But, as it turns out, it's incredibly dangerous, too. About one-third of these sites contain malware, according to a study by cybersecurity experts.

In fact, people who visit illegal, or pirate, sites are 28 times more likely to be infected with malware than people who don't visit them. This is big business, too.

These pirate sites earn about $70 million from cybercriminals. They pay them to infect digital devices, like yours, with malware.

In exchange, the cybercriminals gain access to your ID and your devices. They steal your credit card information, or demand ransom before they'll give you access to your computer.

Posted in: Digital Media