• AccountMaker@piefed.social
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    16 hours ago

    A serious question: what’s wrong with pirate bay? I have been using it to download movies, shows and language learning content for over a decade, and I never had any problems.

    • abbadon420@sh.itjust.works
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      16 hours ago

      Those aren’t typically risky media. When you’re downloading games though, you’re downloading executable programs. You can do some serious damage if you execute the wrong things. You’re not executing a mkv or a pdf, you’re only reading it.

      • BlueRingedOctopus@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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        16 hours ago

        You’re not executing a mkv or a pdf

        You’re half wrong and half right, .mkv files are completely safe but the same can’t be said about .pdf files, attackers can embed malicious code, such as JavaScript or hidden executables, within a PDF file.

        People really underestimate the capabilities of this .pdf file format. I remember some time ago, someone managed to run doom inside a .pdf file.

        • CameronDev@programming.dev
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          15 hours ago

          Theoretically, there could also be a MKV file that exploits a bug in the video player to get execution.

          Far less likely, but definitely possible.

          • BlueRingedOctopus@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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            15 hours ago

            There’s a difference between exploiting bugs that haven’t even been found and spreading malware through a method that’s known by pretty much everyone and is still used to spread malware today.

            It’s also theoretically possible that your system is already infected by some Advanced Persistent Threats but does that happen that often, No, and have people been infected by running random pdfs they found online, Yes.

    • darcmage@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      16 hours ago

      Nothing is wrong with it. I imagine you’d be the type to survive in the wild west because you’re equipped to do so while people around you die of dysentery.

    • BlueRingedOctopus@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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      16 hours ago

      Don’t download games and software from it and always check the file extensions and make sure they’re not something like Movie.mp4.exe or Movie.mkv.exe, other than that you’re good.

        • BlueRingedOctopus@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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          7 hours ago

          Also watch out for any link files, .com files and .bat files.

          I think you meant .lnk files instead of link files.

          .scr and .uue are also becoming popular means to spread malware through torrents.