Game of Thrones, the perfect Trojan horse for viruses

Game of Thrones, the perfect Trojan horse for viruses

With the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones just around the corner, there are many who are reviewing the series or enjoying it through torrent platforms. In fact, it occupies the first position in the ranking, breaking records in downloads. As is usual on the Internet, the more popular you are, the more I take advantage of the situation. This is what some hackers are doing, who are using the series as a method to distribute malware.

This is revealed by a new report from Kaspersky. The security company warns that Game of Thrones was the series most used to distribute malware during the past year, followed by The Walking Dead, Arrow and Suits. Of the list of most popular series, 31 in total, Game of Thrones represents 17% of all content infected during 2018. In fact, it was the one that obtained the highest number of users infected by malware of the same name: 20,934. It also tried to infect 129,819 times, and the total number of Game of Thrones-themed malware files is 9,986.

Game of Thrones

This makes the series number one in popularity, but not only among users, but also among cybercriminals looking for the most effective way to distribute malicious content. During its analysis, Kaspersky found that within a season the premiere and the finale were the most likely to be infected. In addition, the titles of the opening and closing episodes of each season were more often used to hide malware compared to other episodes.

To avoid being infected with viruses and malware, it is best to use the platforms where the content is officially distributed. In the case of Games of Thrones HBO. If you have no choice but to use a torrent page to download the file, Kaspersky recommends that you always verify that it is a "legitimate" torrent page and not a copy. To do this, take a good look at the domain, not to change any letter. Also, when opening the file, check that it is a video file and not an executable. To all this, do not forget to have a good antivirus installed with the updated database.