How to protect torrent downloads

Hackers are getting smarter by the day. For total protection you need a good and up to date antivirus and anti-malware program. To help, we have listed some recommended antivirus programmes that you can use when torrenting. Find the best antivirus. This is an elevated security precaution that most people will probably not need to take. However, if you do often download executable files computer programs from torrent repositories then it is a very good idea to protect yourself in this way.

Downloading files to a sandboxed environment ensures that malicious files will not infect your entire machine if you accidentally download a virus or malware. You can then check the file is legit before installing it onto your main machine. Sandboxie is a great tool that allows you to create a sandboxed environment on your PC. Alternatively, you may prefer to install a full Virtual Machine using Parallels or VirtualBox , for example and check the file there first.

To do so, simply download the torrent onto your VM, use VirusTotal to scan the file, and if VirusTotal gives it the all-clear, then run the file in the VM to make sure it is ok. If the file is clean, and the installer works fine in the VM, you are fine to move the program over onto your real operating system. Private trackers are closed-door torrenting communities designed to preserve the quality of torrents. When you join one of these communities, you will be amazed by the quality of the torrents because each is carefully hand-picked using a strict moderation process.

Most of the time, private trackers can only be accessed with an invitation. This can be tricky because these communities are often one-in-one-out. As a result, existing members guard their spot jealously and rarely quit the community. Nowadays, there are several well-known private torrenting communities that are highly sought-after. If you do manage to get an invitation to one of these, you will suddenly be in an environment where you can trust the quality of the torrents.

This will make you far less likely to come across malicious files, viruses, malware, spam, and Trojans. Spending time on this kind of board and making friends with other users could eventually get you an invitation.

However, you will need to be an active member of the community and build trust over time, rather than simply turn up and start demanding an invitation. It is worth bearing in mind that once you do manage to join a closed-door community, there will be certain rules. Most communities demand that you maintain at least a ratio, which is where you download the same amount as you upload. After that, look at the torrent seeds and click on the one that you fancy, then scroll to read the comments of other downloaders.

So, even though checking out user comments is vital for safe torrenting, you need to be cautious when making a decision dependant on the comments. The private torrent communities, which are also dubbed as closed-door torrenting communities sometimes, are private trackers that are meant to preserve the torrent quality. Such communities work under the one-in-one-out policy ; therefore, the private trackers already in the community will not carelessly want to lose their place in the big table, and they could rather jealously guard the spot.

Most of these communities are only accessed via an invitation, and if you manage to get one from any of them, then you can be assured of a place where you can trust the quality of torrents.

It means that you will be enclosed away from encountering malicious files, malware, spam, virus, and Trojans. It means that you must maintain the ratio of downloading and uploading has to be ratio. Maintaining your ratio is even cheaper as you only need to start by downloading smaller files that you deem to be popular.

Another safe way to download torrents is to ensure that all your downloaded files go through a sandbox environment. Sandboxie is an excellent sandbox program for secure web browsing and application isolation as it enables you to easily create a sandboxed environment on your computer. Sometimes it can be difficult to avoid executable files like. BAT, and several others, but you just have to keep control and avoid downloading such files. These executable files usually execute an action once they are run, and hence, they easily transmit malicious data and viruses to your machine.

However, if you must download such files, then you must ensure that you first scan them with trusted antivirus software. Ideally, the size should be the same, and anything different a noticeable difference should be a sign of the file being corrupt. However, you should be aware that the hackers are also getting smarter each day , and they know you may want to check the size of the file before you download it. Therefore, to ensure that you always stay a step ahead of them, ensure that you install an up-to-date antivirus as noted above as well as an anti-malware program.

Besides, you should ensure that your antivirus is regularly updated alongside the device operating system and other applications on it. The million-dollar question that most people keep on asking is whether torrenting is legal or illegal. The answer is simple — torrenting alone is legal, but downloading copyrighted content is illegal.

Unfortunately, it can be challenging to differentiate legal content and illegal content at a glance. Therefore, you need to be careful while torrenting ; otherwise, you may get yourself in hot soup. The thing worth keeping in mind is, what you share through torrents is what might get you in trouble in some countries and not the torrenting method itself. Basically, those who download and host the copyrighted material on their servers are the ones deemed illegal.

Therefore, streaming or downloading content is not a big concern for copyright holders , but their major focus is on individuals uploading and hosting their content. With torrenting, any file you download you become the hoster, and hence you become the primary target. Another common question people keep asking around torrents is whether you can get caught torrenting.

Because they snoop around all those sites listing IP addresses under the downloaders and uploaders lists , which can eventually compromise your address. Therefore, once your ISP spots torrent traffic, and realize that your IP address is illegally sharing a particular file, then you better know it can be more than a disaster recipe. Torrents being a major part of that ecosystem, it seems that no matter the consequences that are at stake while torrenting, people keep diving into it.

A good VPN will let you roam freely and access unlimited torrents while being assured that your tracks are covered from big brother spying that has reached scary levels. All based on the fact that it offers a plethora of torrent-friendly servers with fast speeds as well as unbreakable security. Moreover, a VPN helps to route your traffic via their servers, meaning that your IP address will be hidden from all the third-parties. Let's illustrate traffic analysis in detail with another example.

You search for a certain torrent on the web without anonymizing your web browsing. Maybe the snoops are monitoring and logging the IP address information to eavesdrop on you in real-time or maybe they are collecting this information to use it later.

Or maybe they have set up a honeypot subtitle, torrent search or other torrent-related website. Whether thirty seconds later or 2 days after you did those web searches, a different IP address starts downloading the same torrent you had searched for.

Even though you are downloading the torrent with your VPN and using an entirely different IP address, snoops can cross reference these two separate activities — the web search and the torrent download — and still figure out that it was the same person who - you! It works like this: IP address searched for movie torrent XYZ and then IP address started downloading movie torrent XYZ, therefore the person using IP address for the unprotected search could also be IP address for the protected download.

Even for popular torrents that are being searched for and downloaded by thousands of people, you cannot hide in the crowd and avoid these cross-referencing, traffic analysis techniques.

And the more you conduct torrent-related activities unprotected, the more chance you could get caught by this kind of traffic analysis. The solution? Stay anonymous behind your VPN when engaging in any web browsing related to your torrent downloading activities. In fact, you should browse the web with a VPN as much as possible to help prevent other privacy problems too, such as online tracking and profiling and to help avoid identity theft and doxing.

The difference now is that your n-log torrent VPN will be hiding your IP address and encrypting your connection, protecting you from your nosy ISP and unfriendly snoops. For such a low monthly cost, you really should sign-up for a VPN. Plus, all our recommended ones below have a full money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied for any reason. Expert Tip — This anonymous torrenting guide showed you how to protect yourself from online snoops. Depending on what you are downloading, you can keep your torrent downloads safe from the prying eyes of offline snoops too.

You can safeguard torrents on your computer and devices by:. Now you know how to hide your torrenting to stay safe from your ISP and snoops. Enjoy the freedom. Oh, and speaking of free: if you are thinking about anonymous torrenting for free, think again. While there are some free VPN services out there, you really shouldn't trust them with keeping your torrenting anonymous and safe. If you are still paranoid about keeping your torrent downloading hidden and safe, you can also check out these torrenting alternatives which also protect your IP address:.

The point is that you have lots of options to stay protected while torrenting and to keep your torrent downloading safe and hidden. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. NordVPN ». Try risk-free for 30 days. ExpressVPN ». If many people download a file and continue sharing it, it means that they probably opened it and used it without problems. Users usually want to get their file from the most reliable torrent on the website. Most torrent websites have an implemented comment feature so users can leave feedback.

If some users are mentioning harmful data, you should stay away. Torrents without comments are also a risk. Executable files such as.

SCR, and others are most prone to getting infected. Since they execute an action when you run them, they are a common way to transmit viruses and other malicious data. Most of the cracked files executable, so if you ever download files with that extension, make sure to scan it with antivirus software. Even if you use all these precautions, there is still a chance you may have trouble.

Downloading via torrent websites has sparked a lot of controversy in previous years. If you follow the instructions from this article and download torrents responsibly, you will never have any problems. Your email address will not be published.