Peer to Peer Safe?

[allizomeniz]

I've heard a lot of negative stuff about peer to peer networks so I thought I'd see if anyone here might have the straight dope about it. Is it possible to use it safely? What's the best software to use if I decided to give it a try?

Thank you.

[n8chavez]

Originally Posted by allizomeniz

I've heard a lot of negative stuff about peer to peer networks so I thought I'd see if anyone here might have the straight dope about it. Is it possible to use it safely? What's the best software to use if I decided to give it a try?

Thank you.

I don't anyone here will give you advice on how to access warez or other illegal data, which primarily what P2P is used for. Yet, bittorrent can be used for legitimate reasons, true, but that is not likely the case, is it?

[Cudni]

What would you want to use it for? That will probably determine how safe it can be

[J_L]

Don't run executable / script / anything that installs to your computer. Look at the file extension. That's all I can say.

[Kerodo]

Originally Posted by allizomeniz

I've heard a lot of negative stuff about peer to peer networks so I thought I'd see if anyone here might have the straight dope about it. Is it possible to use it safely? What's the best software to use if I decided to give it a try?

Thank you.

There are legitimate uses of p2p and that's fine, but I would not use it to steal anything, if you do, you're on your own....

[NGRhodes]

P2P as a technology is as safe as the internet it runs on.
Clients are generally pretty secure, BUT BUT BUT, make sure you double check you are downloading from an official source, there are many p2p clients out there that have been injected with badness (trojans, spyware and spamware etc).
As mentioned another risk is in the choice of files you choose to download. Unless you are 100% sure of the source (e.g. the Ubuntu ISO torrent linked from ubuntu.com website), reguardless of filename and descriptions, until the file has downloaded you will never be 100% sure what you have downloaded.

Cheers, Nick

[YeOldeStonecat]

P2P/torrents have in fact become one of the more widely used methods of spreading malware and bots.
Two words..."Poisoned Content"
Yes people will..hmmm...."inject", or "package"..that song, or movie, or game...with their own code. So you go download that latest song you want to get, or latest movie you want to see, or latest game or warez you want to install...you play the song, or watch the movie, or install the software..and sure it will play/sound/look/behave just like you hoped. But unknown to you...a "bot" may have also been sneak installed onto your computer.

It does happen, frequently. I fix a lot of computers, and I've fixed many that have been from torrent/p2p/warez users....that have often told me..."Yeah, soon as I played that song I just downloaded my PC went wonky"