Anime linked to malware.

[Ojisama]

Source - ANN

Hackers are increasingly disguising malware as anime shows, taking advantage of the rising popularity of the Japanese animation format.

The criminals are usually promising “exclusive episodes”, “leaked scenes”, or “premium access”, in order to get the victims to click on links, download malware, or share sensitive information.

This is according to cybersecurity researchers Kaspersky, who analyzed phishing attacks occurring between Q2 2024 and Q1 2025, and found more than 250,000 being anime-themed.

Naruto seems to be the number one choice among threat actors, with roughly 114,000 attempted attacks. Demon Slayer was second with 44,000, followed by Attack on Titan, One Piece, and Jujutsu Kaisen.

Here on AL, we would warn everyone that things sounding too good to be true - usually end up being just that. Those interested in watching the latest shows should sign up for well-established, reputable streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll. Hidive, Amazon Prime, or Disney+, and not resort to pirated or otherwise questionable sources. "Pirate" streaming sites have long been associated with attempted hacking and malware attacks.

[lolin]

lmao i'm surprised it took someone this long to use piracy to spread malware in mass

[Rich-Allen1976]

Meh, Piracy is bad.

Anyone who pirates obviously virused stuff deserves everything they WILL get IMO.

Like I used to download MP3s off Limewire, and occasional free games, more than once I ended up with nasty Trojans simply from MP3s.