Month: November 2018

Ohne einen Zwang zu National Roaming will United Internet nun doch keinen zweistelligen Milliardenbetrag in ein 5G-Netz investieren. "Es sieht momentan nicht besonders gut aus", meinte Ralph Dommermuth. (Roaming, Telekom)

Fast schon ein Glücksspiel: Viele Nutzer haben noch immer Probleme mit dem October 2018 Update für Windows 10: Teilweise werden Netzlaufwerke nicht mehr erkannt und der F5-VPN-Dienst funktioniert nicht richtig. Parallel hat Microsoft Werbung in der Mail-App getestet - und dafür Kritik erhalten. (Windows 10, Microsoft)

Mitte November 2018 startete Samsung die Verteilung seiner Android-Pie-Beta für das Galaxy S9 und S9+ - und eigentlich sollte auch Deutschland mit dabei sein. Mit etwas Verspätung kann die Testversion mit der neuen One-UI-Oberfläche jetzt auch hierzulande aufgespielt werden. (Samsung, Applikationen)

Weniger Lkw, schnellerer Transport aus dem Hafen: Im Hamburger Hafen sollen Container künftig per Hyperloop abtransportiert werden. Das Unternehmen Hyperloop Transportation Technologies soll den bauen. (Hyperloop, Internet)

Ein europaweites Leistungsschutzrecht könnte das Ende von Google News bedeuten. Doch das ist nicht das eigentliche Problem des Suchmaschinenkonzerns an dem geplanten Gesetz. (Leistungsschutzrecht, Google)

Nach jahrelanger Verzögerung scheint nun endlich ein Plan zu existieren, wie die Berliner U-Bahn mit LTE versorgt werden kann. Es wird staatlich finanziert. (Mobilfunk, WLAN)

Der Betreuer des Grafik-Subsystems des Linux-Kernels, David Airlie, schlägt vor, eine einheitliche Open-Source-Alternative zu der Cuda-Bibliothek zu schaffen. Die Grundlagen dafür seien bereits vorhanden. (Mesa, API)

Wem ein Smartphone mit knapp 6,5 Zoll noch zu klein ist, findet bei Huawei ein noch größeres Gerät: Das Mate 20 X hat ein 7,2 Zoll großes Display, kommt mit dem neuen Kirin 980, großem Akku sowie Huaweis Dreifachkamera und kostet 900 Euro. (Huawei, Smartphone)

Und erneut eine Verzögerung: Das Smach Z ist immer noch nicht fertig, statt einer Auslieferung in diesem Jahr soll die Serienherstellung erst im nächsten Frühling beginnen. Ein Promo-Video wirft Fragen über den Fortschritt des Handhelds auf, ein zweites hingegen zeigt Benchmarks und Gameplay. (Spielehandheld, Games)

People browsing the Internet on a Windows-based computer should always presume that their machines are vulnerable to attack.

From using a decent firewall to anti-virus and similar tools, prevention is always better than cure when it comes to the various threats lurking in the online space.

For people who frequent torrent and streaming sites, the rules are no different. Anti-virus, anti-malware, and sometimes aggressive ad-blocking tools are considered a must, to ensure that rogue adverts or booby-trapped downloads don’t gain traction on a user’s machine.

One of the most popular tools in this space is MalwareBytes. In addition to dealing with malware already present on a user’s machine, its premium product also offers real-time protection, ensuring that users aren’t even allowed to visit dangerous or untrustworthy websites by blocking them automatically.

In normal and sensible use, MalwareBytes is generally hard to trigger but during the past few days, the software has been preventing access to a pair of popular ‘pirate’ sites.

The first brought to our attention was PCgames-download.com, a portal that specializes in downloads of the latest PC games. During the middle of last week, MalwareBytes declared the site dangerous, preventing all users from visiting the platform.

Worryingly, MalwareBytes flagged the site as “fraud”, declaring it is a “scam” that tries to “steal your information or credit card details.” Given that the site isn’t known for such activity and tests via Google’s malware checker gave it a clean bill of health, TorrentFreak contacted MalwareBytes asking for more information. We received no response.

We did, however, have an email exchange with the operator of PCgames-download.com who told us that he wasn’t surprised at the block, given that MalwareBytes has done this to similar sites in the past. He pointed out that none of the main anti-virus vendors has a problem with his site, going on to detail the measures taken to ensure that rogue advertising networks aren’t allowed.

While a single blocking issue isn’t particularly surprising, we’ve now learned that one of the world’s most popular torrent sites is also being blocked for the same reason. As the screenshot below shows, 1337x.to is also being flagged for “fraud”, with MalwareBytes users blocked from visiting the site.

Blocked for alleged ‘fraud’

Again, 1337x.to – which at the start of the year was placed 3rd in our annual overview of the world’s most-visited torrent sites – doesn’t have a reputation for engaging in malicious or abusive behavior.

However, according to MalwareBytes, the site is being blocked due to the reason shown in the screenshot below.

1337x.to blocked for alleged ‘fraud’

Since MalwareBytes has been unresponsive to our requests for clarification, we have no idea why the 1337x.to is being blocked or whether the claims have substance or are the result of a false positive. However, when cross-checking the domain with Google’s sophisticated malware checker tool, we can see that 1337x (just like PCgames-download.com) is given a clean bill of health.

Google has no issue with 1337x.to

If MalwareBytes do get round to answering our questions we’ll update this article with their comments. In the meantime, however, it might be worth the company providing more information when it decides to block an entire website.

Anti-virus companies display the names of the viruses they find to inform users, so doing the same for visitors to allegedly fraudulent websites would certainly clear up some of the confusion. Fraud is a big allegation and should be backed up with some evidence, whenever possible.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.