Not sure if this fits here…
An OPSEC community would probably say no, so I probably don’t need to ask in those communities. But I’m curious about a (digital) pirate’s perspective on this issue…
I mean, the sources listed here are supposedly “safe” right? But honestly, how much would you trust these “safe” sources?
When doing sensitive tasks like banking or filing taxes, do you:
- Use a different OS on the same machine? (Dualboot)
- Or put the pirated content inside a virtual machine?
- Or just use a completely separate computer?
And since PC is much different than a Smartphone:
- Would the extra sandboxing on Smartphones make pirating games on a Smartphone much safer compared to on a PC? (Not that there are much mobile games worth playing, just curious)
(PC in this context referring to all personal computers, regardless of OS)
And last question:
- Non-installed/non-executable files such as .mp4 .mkv .mp3 .pdf .epub, are mostly safe right? I mean, you are using another program to opening it, not executing a file, there aren’t much attack vectors as long as the video player / ebook viewer is up to date right? (Or am I understanding it wrong?)
When engaging in criminal activity, you have no “legal” recourse for malicious behavior, so you work on the web of trust instead.
If you can’t trust the software, nor the publisher, nor the hash verified by however many seeders, then don’t download it in the first place. Me personally, considering I install indie porn games on the regular and never once gotten a virus that I know of, I think it’s worth it to trust others.
Of course you could always go into paranoid zero trust mode but sometimes being a social being means trusting the criminal serving you free shit isn’t ratfucking your data
Instead the one that actually ratfucks my data is the game manufacturer that I’ve paid $100 for the game.