Spider-Man: No Way Home Torrents Revealed To Be Dangerous
Folks trying to use torrents to grab a copy of Spider-Man: No Way Home have been treated to a surprise: cryptocurrency mining malware
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Those looking to score a free look at Spider-Man: No Way Home have been in for a rude awakening. It’s coming in the form of malware downloaded to computers when folks thought they could grab a copy of the hit movie without having to pay the price tag at the box office. MakeUseOf (via ScreenRant) has it that certain torrent users are experiencing “problems” when downloading the movie with crypto-mining malware coming along for the journey. When users are trying to get a copy of the film on their computer, a program that mines the Monero cryptocurrency is also installed and is causing significant issues. It could be another lesson in the problems with trying to score things outside the conventional boxes.
The specific file causing issues for Spider-Man: No Way Home fans is “spiderman_net_putidomoi.torrent.exe.” and it installs a crypto mining program on the local device. This program then goes to work mining Monero, a cryptocurrency with a current market cap of over $3 trillion dollars. It’s not clear who exactly created the malware that is hitting computers, but there is speculation it stems from Russia. It is able to bypass some of the basic Windows protections and once it begins the mining process, users have reported significantly slower CPU speeds.
While torrenting itself isn’t illegal, getting copies of copyrighted films can also be a headache for folks who want to get the movies for free. It is illegal to distribute and acquire movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home in this fashion because it bypasses both the box office and digital streaming services that own the rights. Those producing this kind of malware are aware of this issue because those affected have little recourse in filing a complaint. After all, they were looking for an illegal file to begin with. That being said, folks should still be careful in understanding what they are downloading in general with more than a few phishing attacks and scams related to high-profile movies like this one.
Though torrenting might be an issue for the film industry in general, it’s hard to argue that it’s affecting the performance of Spider-Man: No Way Home all that much. The movie has absolutely crushed it at the box office, already entering the top-10 for best overall performances in movie history. Over the weekend, the movie climbed to eighth on the list, passing Marvel’s The Avengers as well as Furious 7. It will likely pass The Lion King and Jurassic World before it leaves theaters, ultimately landing it at sixth all-time. After that, it’s going to be tough to crack the top-5. Currently, No Way Home has earned more than $1.5 billion at the box office. All of the top-5 are over the $2 billion mark.
And it’s easy to see why Spider-Man: No Way Home has reached such impressive heights. The movie capped off this particular trilogy of films but also culminated previous iterations of the franchise as well. It was a cinematic feat unlike what we’ve really ever seen before, wrapping in different iterations of the character and storylines from the past. It makes sense folks would want to grab a copy of it at home to keep enjoying.
