Websites offering illegal software generally no longer appear on Google.
However, manipulated playlists on Spotify do.
When you think of Spotify, it’s difficult to imagine any use for the platform other than listening to music and podcasts. At the end of the day, that’s its primary purpose. However, some cybercriminals have discovered a new way to distribute unlicensed software and other illicit content using the popular streaming service.
Cybersecurity expert Karol Paciorek recently highlighted this issue in a post on X. He said that malicious actors are exploiting Spotify’s playlist and podcast features because search engines like Google can easily index these pages.
Taking Advantage of Spotify’s Reputation to Distribute Illegal Software
In the past, websites that hosted or linked to illegal software often appeared in search results. However, those sites have become less visible due to stricter policies from search engines designed to comply with copyright laws.
As a result, cybercriminals face increasing challenges in distributing unlicensed software, activators, and spam. Yet, these individuals are relentless and continually seek alternative methods to achieve their goals.
Spotify is a legitimate service and one of the world’s leading streaming platforms. As such, it has a strong reputation with search engines. Recently, this credibility has led some cybercriminals to create public playlists that link to external sites offering illegal software and other prohibited content.
For example, the screenshot above shows a playlist titled “Sony Vegas Pro 13 Crack Free Download 2024,” which promotes illegal software. Cybercriminals have seen some success, considering Google has also indexed many of these playlists as you can see in the image below.
This practice poses significant risks. Spotify users may encounter these criminal playlists, exposing them to spam, malware, and other cybersecurity threats that could create serious problems.
Since sharing and promoting illegal software is against Spotify’s rules, the platform has been actively removing playlists with suspicious content based on Paciorek’s findings. Whether the company will implement further measures to combat these practices remains to be seen.
Image | Reet Talreja
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