Finding bootleg versions of popular movies on the Internet is an easy task, but as a recent study by Intelligent Content Protection, an anti-piracy consulting service found, it comes with a risk and that risk is identity theft.  In its study of thirty of the top pirate websites for downloading pirated versions of popular movies, it found twenty-nine of them contained malware of some sort.  Although not all contained the kind of keystroke logging malware that, when installed on your computer, will permit an identity thief to steal all of the information on your computer and make you a victim of identity theft, the risk of such malware is high.

TIPS

Besides the fact that it is both illegal and morally wrong to steal intellectual property such as movies without paying for them, the risk of unwittingly downloading dangerous keystroke logging malware when you go to an illegal pirate site is just too high.  Even if you have anti-malware software and anti virus software on your computer, these programs are only about 5% effective in protecting you from the very latest strains of malware.  So the lesson is clear.  Avoid these pirate websites not just because it is the right thing to do, but also to protect yourself from identity theft.