Visited porn sites? You are infected! (Top most dangerous sites)

Porn sites become more popular, but malicious such pages with malicious content on the rise too

The example of porn site infectionPorn sites might be dangerous. Find out why!

Sex sells, and the online porn business has been booming since the early days of the internet. In 2020, numbers are just growing higher, with more porn sites being created, more videos uploaded, and more visitors acquired. According to Pornhub (one of the most successful porn sites worldwide that happens to be 8th most visited site[1] in the world) 2019 statistics report, the domain received a whopping 42 billion visitors[2] throughout the year, up from 33.5 billion the year prior.[3]

There’s no doubt that cybercriminals are aware of these statistics and creating new ways to reach people who are looking for visual stimulation and do not use precautionary measures to protect their computers from infections.[4] Nevertheless, cybercrimes are not exclusive to porn – it's the demand that the cybercriminals care about.

While porn sites do not really want users to get infected with malicious software (despite popular belief), they do seek to gain juicy ad revenue. That is simply how adult-oriented sites are funded, mostly. However, security experts and virus researchers sent out multiple warnings that almost every super-popular porn site can expose users to malware. Additionally, low-scale sites can be loaded with malicious content on purpose.

In fact, there is an enormous possibility to get infected[5] while watching videos or looking through photos of naked women or men on pornographic domains, and it does not matter which platform is being used – Windows, Android,[6] Mac, or iOS. Thus, if you are asking “can I get a virus from porn?” – the answer is definitely yes, especially when being careless.

Fuq.Com virus is one great example that can flood users' browsers with disturbing advertisements and take over a browser immediately. However, it's not the worst scenario. Viruses that hide in XXX domains are capable of stealing personal information,[7] encrypting files[8] and making their victims share their money with hackers. In other words, one minor threat can lead you to huge problems.

Dangers that might hide in the popular porn sites

Still, thinking that you are too wise to get infected while on an adult site? Above is a list of the most popular sites that have recently been used for spreading malware. We can guess that some of these URLs will be familiar to you.

  • Hamster. Is this your favorite site? Beware that just several weeks ago this adult-oriented site was caught spreading ransomware via Sex Messenger ads. Those, who were tricked into clicking these ads, were fooled into downloading a serious cyber threat on their computers.

    Before it infects the system, ransomware tries to make sure that the potential victim is a human. After getting the approval that it is dealing with the right person, a virus blocks the affected PC system and causes a malicious warning filled with invented accusations of illegal activity (distribution of malware, the use of illegal content, etc.). Affected users could also see a requirement to pay a fine, which was said to be the only way to unblock the computer.

  • PornHub and YouPorn. Like visiting PornHub or YouPorn? Make sure to stay away from their banners the next time you are visiting any of these websites. Site developers have removed the malicious code called cookiecheck.js from both of these sites. It is known that the code was used for distributing malware, such as Trojans and ransomware.

    Some part of PornHub visitors claim that their PCs were affected by a Trojan horse, others say that they were locked by ransomware. Sincerely, there is no much difference between these two threats because they both are seriously dangerous, and you can lose your money or your personal information (which can also lead you to money loss as well) when having them on your computer.

  • Redtube. Have you been opting for RedTube instead of Red Light District? Beware that the homepage of this website was recently infected by hackers, so visiting it can lead you to malicious websites used for spreading Trojan horses, spyware programs, keyloggers, and other viruses.

    Beware that these threats can hide in your computer as long as they manage to collect a required amount of data. They can additionally transfer this information (your logins, passwords, banking data, and so on) to their owners or can even give them remote access to your computer. At the moment of writing, RedTube looks safe.

  • xvideos. Watching sexy videos is your favorite way to entertain yourself? Be careful with xvideos domain, which was infecting its visitors with ransomware. According to them, they were tricked into downloading this threat to their computers after clicking on a misleading advertisement promoting a sexy chat called Sex Messenger. In fact, that is the same messenger, which was noticed on Hamster as well.

Malware can be injected into porn sitesPorn site developers do not want users to get infected with malware. However, bad actors know the demand is high, so they put a lot of effort to make users infect their machines with malicious software

Adult content pages with questionable purposes

Pornographic sites are not the only ones that can lead to system security issues. There are various adware-based pages that show adult content, direct pornography, or offers games, dating services to attract users. These adult sites are directly related to malicious software creates and promoters, so visiting platforms like that you might directly receive a PUP or more serious infection.

Such pages like Bongacams.com, Adultfriendfinder, Free3dadultgames, and other similar applications can lead to third-party content and expose to malicious material when you do not know what happens. These major porn sites can also redirect to these game sites and other advertising pages, freeware distribution platforms, different online sites.

Pay attention to any content that has the relation to adult content because you can have more problems in the future, even though the promotional page is not causing issues when you visiting. PUPs and there more severe viruses can infiltrate the machine silently and affect the system from the background.

Sextortion – a new trend among cybercriminals used for blackmailing

During 2018, security researchers and even the FBI received thousands of reports of users receiving sextortion emails. Phishing emails that are most likely sent by organized crime groups claim that the recipient's computer is infected with malware and has been filmed while watching porn online.

The message proceeds by explaining, that the compromising material is held on a remote server, and can be sent to friends and family at any time. Thus, by abusing people's feelings of guilt and shame, criminals ask for as much as $7,000 in Bitcoin, in order to keep the videos and photos a secret.

The scam wave started in the middle of summer 2018 and proceeded throughout the year. According to the FBI, they received over 13,000 reports between July 1st and August first.[9] However, these statistics are most likely far from the real number of attacks, because most of such incidents end up unreported.

Cybercriminals play on human emotions and feelings of shame to make victims give in to the scam. Additionally, emails seem more convincing due to crooks using real passwords of users in their messages. However, there is a trick as well. The passwords (usually outdated) are harvested from all the data breaches that affect multiple websites and bought from Dark Web.

Thus, as soon as users see their password in the subject line, they believe the criminal and are more likely to pay the ransom. As evident, it is all a scam, and the computer is not infected with malware or compromised in any other way. However, victims should report these incidents to the authorities and changed their passwords on all their accounts immediately.

Sextortion scamSextortion scam message example. These scams became a lucrative business to cybercriminals over 2018

Protect your identity and unauthorized intrusions while browsing porn sites

There is some good news when it comes to porn sites from a cybersecurity point of view – the rate of malware infections decreased by 36% from 2017 to 2018. However, more than 650,000 still managed to get their devices infected with all types of malware.

Kaspersky security researchers analyzed malware infection insights of porn site landscape, and discovered that malware is still very prevalent, and “extremely effective”:[10]

One of the key takeaways of last year’s report was the fact that cybercriminals not only use adult content in multiple ways – from lucrative decoys to make victims install malicious applications on their devices, to topical fraud schemes used to steal victims’ banking credentials and other personal information – but they also make money by stealing access to pornographic websites and reselling it at a cheaper price than the cost of a direct subscription.

Even though fewer users were getting infected with malware, premium account theft from sites like PornHub, YouPorn, XVideos, and others, went up by 300%. This fact is not surprising, however, since Premium accounts of porn sites can be sold for much larger sums of money than regular accounts on underground markets. With compromised credentials, malicious actors could also breach other user accounts due to a very bad habit of reusing the same passwords for multiple accounts.

Thus, regardless if it is malware or credential theft, both of these negative consequences can be prevented with the help of awareness and various privacy/security tools.

Protect your browser from malware attacks while visiting adult sites

First of all, most popular sites like Pornhub are relatively safe – site authors have a dedicated team that is managing it and eliminating malicious content regularly. However, malicious ads do pop up from time to time, and all of them are difficult to remove. Note that smaller websites do not have enough resources to keep malicious ads away, so they are naturally much more dangerous in the first place.

While it may seem like simply not clicking on ads is a solution – it might not always be the case. When the page loads, its contents might move around. If you wanted to tap on a link during that time, you might end up opening an ad that would start a chain of events leading to malware infection.

To protect your web browsers from ads, you should employ an ad-blocker. There are plenty of free options available, and you will be able to be safe while browsing YouPorn, RedTube, PornHub, Xvideos, and many others.

Nonetheless, it is important to note that ad-block cannot prevent 100% of the ads from being displayed. To enhance your security even further, make sure that you have powerful anti-malware software with web shield protection – we recommend using SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner or Malwarebytes to prevent Porn viruses completely.

Browse truly privately with a VPN

Most people open the incognito tab in order to keep their privacy and have the history/cookies deleted as soon as they leave the mode. However, the seemingly privacy-focused mode is not that private, as it turns out.

When you open incognito, a special warning is shown right away (although not many actually read it), informing that the activity on the device will be masked. However, it also states the following:

Your activity might still be visible to:

  • Websites you visit
  • Your employer or school
  • Your internet service provider

Besides this, Google was also accused of tracking people despite them accessing the incognito mode – the tech giant is now facing a $5 billion lawsuit.[11]

As you can see, using the private mode does not make you truly anonymous, and even your search terms on Pornhub or other sites might be tracked and shared with advertisers. This sensitive information can also be intercepted and stolen by cybercriminals; e.g., Brazzers[12] and Luscious porn sites were hacked before, and the personal data of millions of users was compromised.

The best way to stay anonymous is to employ a reputable VPN. A Virtual Private Network allows you to connect to another domain via the encrypted layered tunneling protocol, which changes your IP address and masks your true location/identity completely. However, not all VPNs are equally good.

If you think that a free VPN is a good choice, you are completely wrong. The technology is meant to be used to protect one's privacy. Yet, free VPNs always engage in excessive data tracking and then selling it for monetization purposes – the scheme completely destroys the purpose of a Virtual Private Network.

Protect your privacy when browsing porn sites with a VPNProtect your privacy when browsing porn sites with Private Internet Access VPN

Thus, we recommend using a powerful VPN solution that would protect you online comprehensively and would not track you in any way – Private Internet Access is one of the best choices when it comes to privacy protection. It is fast and simple to use – with just one click (you can choose from more than 2,000 servers worldwide), you will be able to change your IP, and all the data that will be coming out will be encrypted with a secure AES encryption algorithm. This means that even if the attackers manage to intercept your connection, they will not be able to identify you or read the data that you entered or check the sites that you visited.

What to do after an unfortunate visit to the pornographic website

Fortunately, each of these sites is already fixed, and you can visit them if you want to. However, you can never be sure when new cyber threats will be injected into previously mentioned or new adult-themed sites. For this reason, would like to give you one simple piece of advice at the end of this post.

If your computer was infected right after visiting a porn site, instead of going to computer technicians for help, try scanning your machine with reliable anti-spyware. Believe us, everyone is smart enough to understand what activities you were up to when you got infected with your virus.

About the author
Olivia Morelli
Olivia Morelli - Ransomware analyst

Olivia Morelli is News Editor at 2-Spyware.com. She covers topics such as computer protection, latest malware trends, software vulnerabilities, data breaches, and more.

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