Attorney General Alan Wilson warns about computer malware

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - February 1, 2018

Online operators have found a new way to target South Carolina citizens by infecting visitors to so-called pirate websites. A recent study entitled “Digital Bait” established that visiting content theft sites – websites devoted to illegally distributing movies, music, books, and other copyrighted content – was a major source for infecting computers with dangerous malware that can lead to identity theft and other serious financial and privacy harms. The study showed that one in every three content theft sites exposed visitors to malware exploitable by criminals, and that almost half of the malware was “drive-by”: delivered without the user even having to click on the link. There are many reasons to stay away from content thefts sites, and to encourage others in your household to do so, but protecting yourself from a significant threat of being exposed to malware is an important one.[video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="http://www.scag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/21-Alan-Wilson-SC-1A-converted-with-Clipchamp.mp4"][/video]