Hello Ken, I am no expert on Computer Security, but being a long time user of Bit Torrent, here are my views.
I don't think that anyperson can get access to your system through the torrents since most of the bigger torrent programs have been used from pretty long time and any invasion of privacy would have been caught. Also, I have found that when you have no torrents which you are downloading / uploading, there is no activity as such. I believe that the only way your computer security can be compromised is if you unknowingly donload any program / script which you then run on your system. This can lead to back-door entry programs being activated. With use of a updated Anti-virus + Anti-spyware + Firewall, I believe chances of a trojan / virus attack through the Torrent, especially one downloaded from a safe zone, is very low. Do check out this as well http://www.broadbandinfo.com/broadband-connection/peer-to-peer/bit-torrent-security.html Cheers Prashanth ----- Original Message ----- From: Ken Close To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 11:00 PM Subject: [amibroker] OT: Question on Torrent Security I have asked this question various places and have gotten no answers. Google searches do not reveal anything. Perhaps someone here knows the answer--if there is an answer. I want to know if the use of Torrent (BitTorrent, UTorrent, etc) clients exposes one to a severe security risk. As I understand the newbie explanations I have read, torrent clients break up a requested torrent file into "pieces" and various peers (other computers) send you pieces of the requested file. Your torrent program collects and "assembles" the pieces and you have the completed file. In turn, you have to leave your computer "open" to others so the torrent program can share "pieces" of the file on your computer with others. Thus my question: with your computer being "open" to all those using torrent clients, are you at risk of a hack attack on the other private data on your computer? A related question is: can you be more (totally?) secure if you devote one computer on your home network to torrent collection and do not have sharing on for any of the other computers on your network--sort of isolating the torrent-collecting computer? I am interested in all of this because more and more legitimate, legal material is being shared over the net via torrent downloads. I would like to avail myself of some of this legal content but do not yet understand the risks. Any comments? Thanks, Ken
