Re:Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?
by kaba0 on Thursday January 05, 2023 @01:33PM
(#34264296)
Besides the websites displaying less than friendly ads, what malware can even be found in downloading a video format? Sure, it could be an executable renamed to some video format, or something like that, but without a serious vulnerability in your video player which was very cleverly hacked for very low reward, what can even happen?
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Re:Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?
by pizza234 on Friday January 06, 2023 @02:21AM
(#34271888)
In the video file itself none, but before being able to click to download whatever (either torrent download or streaming), there's lot of misdirection. From a certain tablet for example, I wasn't able to start a video playback _at all_ from a certain website, because ads kept popping up. In some cases, it's not obvious where to click even for experienced users.
Re:Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?
by kaba0 on Friday January 06, 2023 @04:08AM
(#34272607)
Sure, but nothing will “infect” your computer even if you click all the fake download/play buttons.
Re:Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?
by pizza234 on Friday January 06, 2023 @08:23AM
(#34274301)
Fake buttons definitely can initiate the download of an executable file pretending it's a movie; there's nothing unusual (tech-wise) with it. Once in while, I do experience them.
There are countermeasures in place by some browsers/versions (that is, blocking of downloads with executable extensions), but non-savvy users can be tricked - the concept of file extension/type is not so clear to them, and it also assumes that the user is giving the right attention.