It's not just the Night King you need to worry about with Game Of Thrones Season 8

With the new season of Game of Thrones screening, many will turn to the internet to catch the latest series. The problem is, hackers use this knowledge as a means to hide and distribute malware to the masses within these pirated shows. In fact, as many as half of the UK’s internet using adults admitted that they had searched for a pirated version of their favourite TV show according to a recent One Poll study by Comparitech.com. "According to our survey, half of UK adults have searched for a pirated version of their favourite TV show,” said Paul Bischoff, privacy advocate.

“Given the prevalence of malware on torrent sites, unsanctioned streaming sites, and in pirated downloads, many Game of Thrones fans in the UK will run a high risk of infection when attempting to stream or download the new season for free. “In particular, the first and last episodes of a season are preferred to transmit malware,” he warned. “Phishing is also a frequent threat on these dodgy sites and their advertisements."

There’s always a risk when utilising any torrent site that champions digital piracy, or when connecting to and downloading files from P2P networks. Most have a history of serving malware, especially for pirated files.