Security Issues On Illegal Streaming Of Live Matches

Many people streamed the Nations League fixture between England and Holland, illegally, please find below comments from security expert why it is unsafe to stream illegally as part of our security experts comments series. 

BBC News – Arrests shut down illegal TV streaming gang https://t.co/OKONhrB1xy #OTT #StreamingTV #Piracy #IPTV

— OTT Business Magazine (@OTTBusiness) June 7, 2019

David Emm, Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky:    

“Any footie fans looking to watch the England-Netherlands game tonight should be aware of the risks posed by using illegal streaming sites to do so. Cyber-criminals looking to cash in on unsuspecting fans could use a number of threat vectors – from fake links containing malware to sophisticated phishing attacks. Recent examples of cyber-crime activity we’ve seen involving spikes in TV watching include Game of Thrones: the average daily number of attacks, with malware disguised as a season eight episode, was around 300-400. Cybercriminals are likely to try and use streaming sites to their advantage tonight – and there are a number of steps that viewers can and should take to stay vigilant. To avoid falling victim to malicious programs pretending to be TV streaming sites, fans should:   

• Use only legitimate services with a proven reputation for producing and distributing TV-content. 
• Pay extra attention to the websites’ authenticity. Do not visit websites allowing to watch TV-show until you are sure that they are legitimate and start with ‘https’. Check that the website is genuine, by double- checking the format of the URL or the spelling of the company name, before starting downloads. 
• Use reliable security solution for comprehensive protection from a wide range of threats. 
• Don’t enter any information — especially credit card details — on a website you have no reason to trust. 
• Use reliable antivirus software with protection from online scams and phishing.“