Many of us watch free movies and play free games on pirated websites. But the question arises how these pirated websites provide us with free movies and games and how do they make money. The truth is that these websites cause us a lot of harm without us realizing it. There are a lot of websites on the internet which allow users to download movies, games or software/tools/apps for free. There are a lot of premium versions of games and apps available on the internet for free, as well as their cracked versions.
Most of these websites are making money through their advertising models. They show people different ads and make money from them but ads on these websites are often lead to illegal and deceptive platform. Most of these websites are run by people who do something shady behind the scenes. For example, you see an ad for mobile phones on one of those pirated websites and click on the ad. After opening the website, you put in your credit card information and order the phone but since the website isn't legitimate, your credit card information gets leaked and becomes a security hazard.
On the other hand, whenever a user opens one of these websites, they start running scripts and use the computer's power to mine cryptocurrency. This just means that it harms your computer without you realizing it. These websites also often inject scripts into computers that keep on running in background even after the website is closed which causes the computer to slow down.
Free movies or games that you download for pirated websites come with mining software hidden inside and once the game, movie or software is installed, the mining software starts running silently. As it works in the background, the website owners keep earning money while you pay electricity bills for running the extra load on your system. Once that software is installed, it stays on your system unless you reinstall windows or install special malware detection software to remove it.
Things get worse than you unknowingly using your electricity to mine cryptocurrency for someone else as these free software can easily hack into your computer as well. This is called session hijacking where hackers gain control of your online account without you knowing about it. This way hackers can also gain access to the credentials of popular accounts and cause further harm to creators or companies. 90% chance is that you will never know your system has been compromised until it's too late.
Now comes the question that if these websites are too dangerous, why aren't they shut down? The answer is that there's a big network of these illegal websites, with most of them operating from several countries and constantly changing their domain names to avoid legal actions. Most of the servers of these websites are often hosted in countries where legal proceedings are low or where copyright laws don't exist.
While the lure of free content is tempting, the risks far outweigh the benefits. Prioritizing cybersecurity and using legal platforms not only protects your devices but also supports creators and industries that rely on fair practices.
Beyond security risks, choosing legal, open-source tools and public domain content reflects moral responsibility. Even better, investing time in educational documentaries, learning a new skill, or healthy activities (both physical and digital) fosters personal growth instead of wasting hours on meaningless entertainment.
Image: DIW-Aigen
Read next:
• AI Agents and DeepSeek Drive LLM Commoditization, Tech CEOs Say
• Survey Finds Why People Prefer Torrenting Movies Even If It’s Considered Illegal
• AI Apps Boom: General Assistants Dominate, ChatGPT Earns Big, Utility AI Surges 2990% YoY
Most of these websites are making money through their advertising models. They show people different ads and make money from them but ads on these websites are often lead to illegal and deceptive platform. Most of these websites are run by people who do something shady behind the scenes. For example, you see an ad for mobile phones on one of those pirated websites and click on the ad. After opening the website, you put in your credit card information and order the phone but since the website isn't legitimate, your credit card information gets leaked and becomes a security hazard.
On the other hand, whenever a user opens one of these websites, they start running scripts and use the computer's power to mine cryptocurrency. This just means that it harms your computer without you realizing it. These websites also often inject scripts into computers that keep on running in background even after the website is closed which causes the computer to slow down.
Free movies or games that you download for pirated websites come with mining software hidden inside and once the game, movie or software is installed, the mining software starts running silently. As it works in the background, the website owners keep earning money while you pay electricity bills for running the extra load on your system. Once that software is installed, it stays on your system unless you reinstall windows or install special malware detection software to remove it.
Things get worse than you unknowingly using your electricity to mine cryptocurrency for someone else as these free software can easily hack into your computer as well. This is called session hijacking where hackers gain control of your online account without you knowing about it. This way hackers can also gain access to the credentials of popular accounts and cause further harm to creators or companies. 90% chance is that you will never know your system has been compromised until it's too late.
Now comes the question that if these websites are too dangerous, why aren't they shut down? The answer is that there's a big network of these illegal websites, with most of them operating from several countries and constantly changing their domain names to avoid legal actions. Most of the servers of these websites are often hosted in countries where legal proceedings are low or where copyright laws don't exist.
While the lure of free content is tempting, the risks far outweigh the benefits. Prioritizing cybersecurity and using legal platforms not only protects your devices but also supports creators and industries that rely on fair practices.
Beyond security risks, choosing legal, open-source tools and public domain content reflects moral responsibility. Even better, investing time in educational documentaries, learning a new skill, or healthy activities (both physical and digital) fosters personal growth instead of wasting hours on meaningless entertainment.
Image: DIW-Aigen
Read next:
• AI Agents and DeepSeek Drive LLM Commoditization, Tech CEOs Say
• Survey Finds Why People Prefer Torrenting Movies Even If It’s Considered Illegal
• AI Apps Boom: General Assistants Dominate, ChatGPT Earns Big, Utility AI Surges 2990% YoY