Torrent Sites Earned $70M After Dropping Malware On Visitors (softpedia.com)

jones_supa writes: One in three torrent sites is spreading malware, claims a recent joint report (PDF) from Digital Citizens Alliance and RiskIQ, which compiled data from over 800 sites. Most of the time, the sites expose visitors to drive-by attacks that silently download malicious files on computers without any user interaction. These types of attacks are usually carried out through malvertising campaigns. It turns out that this is actually a good business for the operators of the pirate sites: depending on traffic, they can make between $200 and $5,000 per day. In total it is estimated that this type of covert agreement between malware distributors and pirate site operators has pocketed the latter about $70 million per year.

Comments

Re:More generally

[Vlad_the_Inhaler]

Is there a name for an activity that earns you money, but less than the value of the damage you cause, making your activity a net negative for society? Any example of well-respected professions that would qualify?

Lawyer?
Oh, you said "well-respected". My bad.