Why watching these illegal torrents could be dangerous

[Len]

DOWNLOADING or streaming Game of Thrones Season 7 could damage your computer as hackers use illegal streams to infect fans with malware.

VIRUS WARNING: A virus coming from Game of Thrones season 7 torrents could affect you

Game of Thrones season 7 opener ‘Dragonstone’ debuted last week to record numbers of viewers both on HBO and Sky Atlantic, and is officially the most successful series opener yet.

Episode 2 aired late last night with millions across the world tuning in to this fanstasy thriller.

However, with show only available via pay TV, Season 7 is already one of the most pirated show on the internet with a new study showing that record numbers of people are planning to stream the show illegally.

In fact, it's thought that roughly 3.7 million Britons are tipped to download or stream the show.

Commissioned by personal finance website finder.com, the survey found that one in five people were prepared to admit that they planned to illegally view new episodes by streaming, downloading or borrowing illegal copies from a friend.

This means that of the 2,000 people surveyed, over 20% of people were going to illegally watch the show.

Millennials are the shows primary audience, with 61 per cent tipped to be watching the show, but one in three will do so illegally.

The high piracy rate in the UK, however, may be exposing viewers to a scary new virus, of which Game of Thrones fans are the primary target.

Game of Thrones’ massive viewership has been the target of ransomware since last year's season six premiere, so eager Game of Thrones fans should tread carefully when going to download content from a torrent site.

Users looking to watch illegal episodes online were greeted by a pop-under which directed them towards a download link that infected them with Cerber ransomware.

Apparently the virus, which was discovered by online security firm Malwarebytes, took advantage of browser plugins to download the virus while users remained oblivious.

The ransomware was sophisticated enough to upload itself to any computer which wasn’t running an adblocker preventing it from popping up, this means that users wouldn’t even need to click on a link to be infected.

With so many people looking out for clicking on dodgy links, the new virus would likely take many people by surprise, so if you’re planning to download Game of Thrones’ latest season, be vigilant.

This news comes after Game of Thrones fans found out they might need to fork out more cash to watch the last two episodes of Season 7.

Game of Thrones will be among other programs affected by a Now TV price rise this summer spearheaded by Sky, the TV network has confirmed.

First launched in 2012, Now TV offers daily, weekly or monthly subscriptions for Sky’s key services - Movies, entertainment and sport - for viewers to watch live, or on demand at their leisure.

Currently, Now TV customers are charged a fee of just £6.99 a month which includes access to 11 premium channels.

Among these are industry titans Sky Atlantic, Comedy Central, Sky 1, Fox, ABC, and Sky Living.

Sky has decided that by August 15th, 2017 - before the final two episodes of GoT season 7 - they will be increasing their price to £7.99 per month, making them more expensive than their top rival Netflix, which is currently £7.49 for a monthly HD subscription.

If you want to continue to watch Game of Thrones at the time of its release, Sky’s message is clear, you’ll have to pay up.