Free online streaming websites can put you at security risk

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: With the increasing popularity of online streaming websites growing day by day, a new study might force us to take a backseat.

This study has revealed that the use of free live streaming websites can put viewers at security risk as these websites make you vulnerable to malware infections, personal data theft and scams.

According to the researchers from KU Leuven-iMinds (Belgium) and Stony Brook University in the US, as much as 50 per cent of the video overlay ads on free livestreaming websites are malicious.

"Until now, free livestreaming services (FLIS) have mostly been analysed from a legal perspective. Our study is the first to quantify the security risk of using these services," said M Zubair Rafique from KU Leuven's department of computer science/iMinds in a university statement.

"We have assessed the impact of free livestreaming services on users. We also exposed the infrastructure of the FLIS ecosystem," he added.

Google Chrome and Safari are more vulnerable to this approach than other browsers, because attackers tend to target the more popular web browsers.

To alert FLIS users to potentially dangerous pages, the researchers have engineered an accurate and effective classifier. The tool can also help security analysts find and report unknown FLIS pages to curb copyright and trademark infringements.

(With IANS inputs)