Last modified 10/09/2023

Dangers of downloading files through Peer to Peer nets :

Nowadays, Internet has become a mass costume, making it almost impossible to move forward without tasks without using a PC with Internet connection. But this, at the same time, has certain disadvantages, because there are more and more the dangers that surfing in the Internet implies. This lack of security has increased, especially, in the downloads made by users through the Peer to Peer nets, the methods that are usually used are the spam publication, which has turned out to be more effective to this kind of purpose, there is also the usage of Trojans added to other files, usually codecs and multimedia files, this makes that the propagation of this kind of unwished propaganda to be spread more and more, and this is because it has turned out to be very effective in the transmission of data through the Peer to Peer nets.

It has been proven that most of the malicious codes around the Peer to Peer nets like BIT Torrents, Gnutella, eDOnkey and Ares Fast Track are worms with the Kido generalization, these type of worms take advantage of the Windows operative system’s vulnerabilities and what it does is using the valuable system resources. This current epidemic has made the virus to be considered among the TOP 10 of current viruses in the net, this propagation was predictable way before the virus was easily spread through the Peer to Peer nets and for its dynamic code.

Regarding the new programs with malicious codes, they have recently began to be spread around the Peer to Peer nets, and they are able of reproducing themselves, been capable of infecting files, because they count with the ability of downloading malicious files on their own. Once the worm is installed in the PC, it makes copies of itself and transmits them, making it publicly accessible.

Its propagation mode is changing its name for the one of other known files, that makes that the person who is downloading the file he or she might be looking for, to think that he or she is downloading what he or she wants to, but when the file is played, it turns out to be very different from what it was supposed to. The propagation method used by the worm is, as it has already been mentioned, through the Peer to Peer nets, but it is also transmitted through another media, which is the shared net usage, through LAN connections, through spreadable media or, in some cases, even through e – mail. What makes our PCs more vulnerable is the confidence level we put in some known PC or in some device of a person we know, which decreases the security level of our PCs, which is why we should keep our guard up and, above all, we should not down our PCs security, to be able to do that, we should always count with a quality antivirus software, which is updated, as well as with the necessary patches for our operative system, especially if you are using Windows, because it is the most vulnerable one in front of malicious code attacks.