Torrent Testing Computer Software
+ Why BitTorrent Sites Are a Malware CesspoolPosted onJuly 20th, 2017 byBitTorrent is synonymous with 'illegal' and 'dangerous' for many people, yet it is a great system for, and; in fact, I use it myself every day. Still, BitTorrent sites in general have a bad rap, but why is that? One word: Malware.When software is downloaded from a BitTorrent website, typically said software is a paid product that has been cracked or comes with a crack that turns it into a fully functional application, without having to pay a penny.
When a product is 'cracked,' it means that the person who cracked the program has hacked into it — figured out a way to bypass the registration key — and modified it, so they can use it for free. In many cases, demo or trial periods are cracked, so they are extended indefinitely, and the licensing process is cracked to accept any details as valid and/or the software comes with a key generator that spits out a name and password that can be used to unlock it.These cracks, patches and key generators are also more often than not the source of malware and, in some cases, the software itself has been modified to deliver malware. Is BitTorrent safe to use?The short answer is that the BitTorrent program itself is relatively safe, but like any software that connects to the Internet, it is susceptible to attacks. However, do not confuse the safety of peer-to-peer programs like BitTorrent with the files that are shared through those programs. These files are the real threat. But are some of them safe?
![Torrent Testing Computer Software Torrent Testing Computer Software](https://www.indiatechonline.com/images/it-happened/cdac-ismv6-91.jpg)
How safe are files shared through BitTorrent?To find out the risks of BitTorrent and whether or not files shared through the program are as bad as its reputation is made out to be, I browsed a few BitTorrent sites and downloaded the popular software they had available (strictly for testing purposes, all of which I promptly deleted after testing).If every piece of software from BitTorrent programs are malware laden, why would it still be around? Do vast numbers of ordinary people risk malware attacks, possible fines and jail time (downloading these kinds of files is illegal in most countries) by downloading cracked software from BitTorrent? Surely it can't be that bad.Malware like, and ransomware like and must be the rare exception. So I took it upon myself to find out, and here's what I discovered.After pulling in several gigabytes of software shared through BitTorrent, I fired up and let it loose on the Downloads folder. The results were shocking.Every crack, patch and key generator included in these downloads was flagged!Here is a screenshot showing just a small part of the results:And it's not just the downloaded software from BitTorrent that poses a risk, the torrent websites themselves try very hard to get extra stuff installed on your system as well. Most time spent on those websites is spent fighting off pop-ups and redirects, each presenting you with tons of fake Flash Player update alerts, scare tactics and more.Just a few examples of the things that popped up can be seen in the graphic below. Merely two minutes torrenting lands you in a malware cesspool.This is just what popped up after merely two minutes of browsing torrent sites, not including duplicates! It's exhausting, and it certainly makes you wonder how people get around to downloading anything at all from these sites.
Seriously.Each and every cracked software shared on BitTorrent will download malware to your Mac, if clicked. A quick sampling showed several, and even the recently covered popped up. Quite a few also popping up. Each of these sites also asked me to activate Flash Player in my browser, no doubt looking for vulnerabilities to exploit.Some of these fake warnings and messages look better than others.
![What the folks torrent What the folks torrent](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Qthqn.png)
Torrent Testing Computer Software Book
All it takes is one to successfully trick a user into installing it, and malware will be brought onto the system. The good, bad, and ugly of BitTorrent downloadsThere are good reasons for using BitTorrent, as mentioned at the beginning of this article, but the bad news is it is by far mostly used for the downloading of illegal software, TV shows and games. Both the websites that offer up this content and the content itself are a major risk to the security of your Mac and your data.Furthermore, your Internet service provider may also disconnect you if they see you're downloading illegal software. The ugly truth is you could even get sued by the developer of the software or producer of the show/movie/music.
Trust me, they keep a close eye on these downloads to see exactly who is infringing on their copyright.So is it worth the risk? But take heed: Every user should take extra precautions when using BitTorrent sites. Do you have a different opinion or perhaps a BitTorrent horror story of your own?
Drop us a comment below!As for the test software I downloaded from BitTorrent: About Jay VrijenhoekJay Vrijenhoek is an IT consultant with a passion for Mac security research. He conducts independent malware protection tests, and also writes about privacy and security related matters on his blog. Follow him on Twitter at.This entry was posted in, and tagged,. Bookmark the.
BitTorrent is a protocol that is being used for file sharing. It has been around since 2001 and is still going strong today with it estimated to be. BitTorrent is not equal to piracy as it is merely a method to. However there are quite a few Internet Service Providers that don’t like their customers downloading files through BitTorrent and employ technology to block or throttle Internet traffic that is used by BitTorrent.There are a few different ways to block or throttle BitTorrent by ISP. They could be blocking the BitTorrent tracker host and without a tracker, you wouldn’t be able to connect to any peers.
They could also block the BitTorrent website itself but this can be easily or use a web proxy. Sometimes an ISP can temporarily lift the BitTorrent ban on certain days or time range that normally starts from midnight till morning.A more sophisticated method in detecting and controlling BitTorrent traffic is by Deep Packet Inspection. This system is able to intelligently detect BitTorrent usage and starts shaping the traffic by without requiring specific rules of blocking BitTorrent websites or trackers. As we said earlier, not all BitTorrent usage is linked to piracy.
There are many legitimate software packages such as the that can be downloaded using BitTorrent. If you are curious to know if your ISP is throttling or slowing down BitTorrent usage, here are some ways to test it without getting into trouble. Determine Internet speedBefore you can determine if your ISP is throttling your BitTorrent download speed, you must first know what is the full Internet connection speed. A good and easy way to test is by from your favorite web browser. Speedtest.net will automatically find test servers that are closest to you and even perform a ping test to determine which is the best host to test on if there are multiple servers located at the same place.
Simply click the “BEGIN TEST” button to start.After finished testing your Internet connection speed, take note of the details particularly the “download speed” located at top. That is the full download speed that can be achieved by downloading from the standard HTTP port 80 which is normally not blocked or throttled. Test BitTorrent DownloadThe best way to test BitTorrent is obviously to use a BitTorrent client and try downloading a file. However there are some concerns if some anti piracy agencies are able to track and fine users for downloading pirated contents, or installing some spyware that is bundled in the BitTorrent client application. We’ll recommend a safe BitTorrent client that is clean from unnecessary adware and also a legitimate source to download a legal file.1., run and extract.2. Visit, scroll down to the BitTorrent area and select any version of Ubuntu to download.3.
Run Deluge, drag the Ubuntu.torrent file that you’ve downloaded in step 2 and drop it to Deluge. Click the Add button to start downloading Ubuntu using BitTorrent protocol.4. Take note of the “Down Speed” column.
Ubuntu is a well seeded and healthy torrent so you should achieve the download speed similar to the results you get from speedtest.net if your ISP does not throttle BitTorrent traffic.Another sign of your ISP not blocking or throttling BitTorrent traffic is when you see that the download speed achieving the maximum speed in just a few seconds instead of having to wait 10-30 minutes. Refer to the “Down Speed” column at the animated image below.Once you’ve finished testing, you can right click on the ubuntu listed in Deluge, select “Remove Torrent” followed by clicking on the “Remove With Data” button. You can now delete the whole DelugePortable folder.If you prefer to run a BitTorrent download and upload test without downloading or installing any third party BitTorrent client software, there is an online service called Glasnost that has been around since 2010 to easily test if your ISP is sharing your Internet traffic. There are different tests that you can run apart from BitTorrent which is selected by default.You will need to wait 500 seconds for a series of automated download and upload tests to be run to determine if your traffic rate is being limited by your ISP.
![Torrent Testing Computer Software Torrent Testing Computer Software](https://saadfaruque.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/deluge-web-torrent-loaded_thumb.png?w=605&h=578)
The report page will either show if there is an indication that your ISP limits your uploads/downloads or not, or if the measurement is too noisy. Noisy measurement can be caused by unstable Internet connection or even by your ISP as a method to throttle BitTorrent traffic.Do take note that you cannot run Glasnost tests on Google Chrome because they’ve stopped support NPAPI plugins such as Java. You can however still run Glasnost tests on other web browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera.