Malware and viruses

Torrents are common sources of malware and viruses. This is especially true of software and games, which must be installed and executed. Always run virus scans and read through comments to prevent infection.

A good antivirus is key here. Some torrenters will post the results of a virus scan in the comments section of a torrent’s web page for others to see. They can’t always be trusted, however, as false positives are common and no antivirus is perfect. It’s always better to run your own scans before opening a file.

The IP addresses for every device connected to a torrent are visible to everyone else. IP addresses can be used by advertisers, hackers, and even law enforcement to target individual users.

So if you want to keep you privacy and data protected from the various threats emanating from p2p networks, you should use the entire arsenal of computer protection: latest updates for the operating system installed on your device, a strong anti-virus security suite, and encryption of your internet connection, these are the must-have things while torrenting. VPNs will help with the latter to mask your activities but they’re not foolproof with logjams, kills switch and DNS leakage common torrenting hazards and it pays to look around to find the best providers.