Hyderabad: Websites offering a free download of music ending with .pk, and others like www.jattmate.com and www.mr.jatt.org are secretly collecting data.
Some of them have been created by data stealers in Pakistan. While downloading songs, there is a high possibility of malware coming in along with it which can access the users’ email ID, passwords and other personal details.
Experts caution against using such websites though they offer free downloads.
“There are several sites ending with pk, like songs.pk, crazy jatt, which are based in Pakistan and offer music for free,” said director-general of police for the state of Goa, Dr Muktesh Chander.
“If someone in India were to do the same they would attract a case of copyright infringement and the song is international, they would attraction violation under digital millennium copyright act in the US. But these sites lure all by offering a free download. Copyright owners in India are struggling to get these sites blocked, as they operate from outside India; a few were traced to Pakistan,” he said.
A senior IPS officer said, “These sites are created in such a manner that they lead newcomers to click on various sites. They display various download buttons of which only one is the correct one. The others take the browser to different sites. A first-timer is likely to click a wrong button that would lead to one’s details being compromised or malware downloaded. In many cases, the song itself turns out to be a malware. A virus can be hidden life a PDF file, word file or MP3 file. But we are downloading such files left, right and centre without analysing why anybody would offer songs for free.”
The suspicious websites are not yet analysed. Neither have their contents been referred to malware analysis laboratories. Experts caution against visiting such sites.
Officials working with the Intelligence Bureau caution against using applications on smartphones that work as spy or data stealers. “One of them is Smesh app, which was banned by the Indian Army in 2016. This application is similar to WhatsApp, in-fact better in terms of technology. But it is a kind of honeytrap and used by Pakistan handlers to trap defence personnel,” said a source.
In a closed room discussion between IB and defence personnel, it was revealed that Pakistan handlers were tracking photos, location and messages and other context through this spy application.
A number of army personnel fell for this trap and were monitored, the phones were totally under their control.
