Using torrents online can be very dangerous if proper precautions are not taken. Not only can it lead to serious legal issues, but you can also download destructive malware and viruses that can corrupt your precious files and harm your privacy. Therefore, it is extremely important that we be very careful when downloading or uploading torrents from different torrent websites.
Now, there are two things we need to keep in mind to stay safe while torrenting: avoiding malware infestation and avoiding legal issues.
How to avoid malware infestation while torrenting?
Unfortunately, when you torrent, there is a good chance that you will download viruses, malware, spyware, and the like along with the files. Therefore, it becomes crucial to take some precautions to decrease the risk of virus infection.
These are some of the precautions you can take to protect yourself from viruses and malware that are likely to come with your torrent files.
1. Get an antivirus software installed
Windows has its own virus defense mechanism, called Windows Defender, which is pretty good at protecting you from most viruses. You can easily enable it from your control panel. But if you're looking for additional security features, get a third-party antivirus installed program.
These third-party programs give you real-time protection against malware. So, as soon as you download any file, it is thoroughly scanned for virus infestation. You get several other things along with these antivirus programs such as a password manager, parental controls, web protection, cloud-based backups, and many more useful features.
2. Choose trustworthy torrent sites
If you want to stay away from sneaky surprises, download torrents only from trusted torrent sites. It is important that you download anything to your computer only from a trusted source, as doing so may result in downloading something you did not want or expect.
Most major torrent sites have a system to verify that torrents are genuine, which you can trust. There are numerous torrent sites that require membership through registration. This is in addition to confirming the download of verified torrents.
3. Download Torrents that have many Seeders
If there are many seeds for a torrent, it usually means that the torrent is virus free. Although it is not guaranteed yet, there is a high probability that the torrent file is clean and genuine. On top of this, many planters also mean faster transfer.
4. Check the comments
Before you go to download a file, you want to see your feedback. Again, this is not a surefire way to check if the file is virus-free, but if there are a lot of comments suggesting the file is corrupted, you don't want to download it. Alternatively, if many comments do not talk about any cyber threat, it is highly likely that the file is not infected with a virus.
5. Avoid virus-prone file types
Viruses are usually spread via executable files or batch files with .exe or .bat extensions. Therefore, if you are not sure about the reliability of the source, it is better not to download such files to your device.
How to avoid getting caught while downloading torrents?
While downloading a torrent file, you make your IP address public to various people and organizations. Your IP is visible to your Internet Service Provider, copyright enforcement agencies, anyone on the Internet who is sharing the same torrent file, and even your government if you live in a country that does not respect privacy.
So, if by any chance, you are downloading a copyrighted document or content, there is a good chance that one of these agencies will catch you and get you into serious legal trouble. But luckily, it's quite easy to hide your online activities using a VPN. This tool can hide your IP address as well as the Internet activities you perform and mitigate the risk of being detected.
What is a VPN?
A VPN or virtual private network is an Internet tool that introduces an intermediary server between your device and the websites you access. This proxy server not only hides your IP address and makes you anonymous, but also hides your Internet activities from the rest of the world.
It encrypts your Internet traffic before it leaves your device through a secret tunnel between your device and the VPN server, easily masking your Internet activities from anyone trying to eavesdrop.
This VPN server is usually a remote server that may or may not be located in your country. And, if you are outside your geographic limits, it allows you to access websites that would otherwise be geo-blocked in your country.
Basically, a VPN makes you look like you are accessing the web from the region where your VPN server is located. So, if you are physically in a country that restricts access to torrenting websites, you can connect to a VPN server in a country where these websites are accessible, such as the US.
Also, since your activities are hidden from your ISP, it doesn't get to know what you are doing and thus doesn't even throttle your speed. So the VPN has your back in that regard as well.
What is the best VPN for torrenting?
Although there are several VPNs on the market that claim to be reliable and versatile when it comes to torrenting, there are some that are considered to be the best for torrenting. One such provider is Surfshark.
Can torrent safely with Surfshark thanks to its strong security and privacy features such as a zero-logging policy, a powerful kill switch, IPv6 and DNS leak protection, 256-bit AES encryption, obfuscation, and much more.
Conclusion
To keep you, your device, and your data safe while torrenting, it is imperative that you take some precautions when downloading or uploading torrents. You can stay safe from viruses and malware by using a premium antivirus program.
It's also important to keep yourself protected from copyright infringement issues if you accidentally download copyrighted content while torrenting. For this, using a VPN is the best solution. You can perfectly hide your IP and online activities from anyone on the Internet.
This article was provided by Samantha Stone
