The illegal transmission of live football matches on pirate pages constitutes a high-risk trap for Internet users, because hackers use these sites as platforms to carry out multiple virtual scams and access virtual wallets, bank accounts, credit card data. credit, instant messaging accounts, emails and family information.
What is the time of the attack? When the user enters a website to watch “free football” and, before reaching the desired screen, they have to go through several steps by making a significant number of “clicks”. In that process, hacking computer systems steal sensitive information or access control of phones or computers.
They are crimes that are replicated in all countries with different modus operandi, but they always use the possibility of seeing “free soccer” to attract the most unsuspecting fans who are unaware of the magnitude of the consequences.
Hackers position pirate sites with attractive terms to gain visibility in internet search engines: “Free football”, “Free football”, “How to watch the game without paying”, These are some of the main slogans of criminal groups.
Alliance Against Audiovisual Piracy (Alianza), a leading association in Latin America in the fight against this crime that affects millions of people, promotes actions to alert users about the high risks faced by those who access these sites. “The only objective of pirates is to generate income, no matter how or through whom. Their illegal services turn out to be triggers for other types of crimes or a necessary link to generate capillarity of other crimes linked to the disruption of computer security barriers” , expressed Jorge Bacaloni, president of Alianza.
Bacaloni added that “all users of illegal sites know that to access content they must click several virtual buttons before being able to play what they want.” “In our experience the amount ranges between 3 and 10 times due to a system commonly called ‘clickbait’ that involves leaving a bait to induce users to click certain commands. In such processes, users often activate executable files that contain malware and infect their computers and open access to all their personal information to criminal organizations,’ he explained.
Data theft and looting of bank accounts, the scams behind “free football”
In countries like Argentina, the Judiciary took concrete actions against all the criminal practices behind cyberattacks. Alejandro Musso, Cybercrime prosecutor at the Fiscal Unit Specialized in Cybercrime Investigation (UFEIC), leads this crusade and works to expose the tools that hackers use to carry out data theft and access bank accounts.
“The risks for the user are diverse. From an outright scam, given that there is no product behind the offer, to a poor product. And there are risks inherent to product deficiency, including the possibility of downloading computer viruses of all kinds. Without realizing it, users may be victims of spy viruses or Trojan malware aimed at obtaining banking credentials,” said Musso.
He then warned about the most serious cases that include access to computers, cell phones and other devices, and also to bank accounts or digital wallets. “The Prosecutor’s Office has intervened in various cases in which digital piracy applications are the conduit to hide attack vectors embedded within the download program. Generally, they are the so-called RAT (Remite Access Trojan) with which a rear access door or ‘Back Door’ of the system is generated and it is possible to take command and control of the devices. The most common attacks are from the GRANDOREIRO and MEKOTIO malware, well-known banking Trojans dedicated to emptying accounts,” the prosecutor explained.
The definancing of the clubs
Bacaloni stated that pirated football not only puts thousands of people and families at serious risk, but also threatens the financing of football clubs, the teams that the audience themselves follow and support.
“A large part of the income of clubs around the world comes from the rights paid by television to broadcast the matches, there being a directly proportional relationship that indicates that the larger the audience, the greater the income. These incomes have different relevance for the clubs: the large ones diversify their income into memberships and ticket sales, merchandising, among others, although the greatest income is always audiovisual; For smaller clubs they are, many times, their only financial support. If piracy grows, companies will no longer be able to pay for the rights to broadcast because there will be no profitability and, consequently, this will lead to the destruction of quality sports institutions, there will be no infrastructure, nor local talents,” said Bacaloni.
In that sense, he added: “When a person decides to watch football on a pirate platform, they have to be clear that they are attacking the development of that sport and the clubs they love, mainly against the smaller clubs that are essential in the neighborhoods.” to instill sport in the new generations.”
