{"id":583100,"date":"2026-08-04T17:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T17:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/583100\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T17:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T17:10:10","slug":"illegal-streaming-on-work-phones-creates-cybersecurity-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/583100\/","title":{"rendered":"Illegal streaming on work phones creates cybersecurity risk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bestreamwise.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BeStreamWise<\/a> has released a new cross-industry study which raises awareness of the dangers of illegal streaming.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the company, the study reveals that seven in ten (68%) people who pirate sports, TV shows and films are doing so on company smartphones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The trend is particularly common among Gen Z workers. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among illegal streamers aged 18-24, 71% say they have used a work smartphone to access content from unofficial sources, compared to 62% from the 45-54 age bracket.<\/p>\n<p>Study findings <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company explained that concerningly for business leaders, more than half (56%) of people who stream illegally on work smartphones say their device has been infected with malware in the past 12 months \u2013 more than three times the average national rate (18%). <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than a quarter (27%) say they have experienced malware infections multiple times during the past year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, one in five (20%) illegal streamers who use work devices say they\u2019ve been on the receiving end of phishing attempts, with spurious requests for passwords and account login data, compared to 8% of illegal streamers overall.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The research also suggests that awareness of the cyber-risks associated with illegal streaming remains relatively low among those using work devices for this activity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Only a third (34%) were aware that illegal streaming sites can infect devices with malware, compared with 42% of the public overall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company added that recent government figures show that phishing attacks are the most prevalent type of cyber-breach that UK businesses face, affecting 38% of companies. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, the average cost of a significant cyber-attack is \u00a3195,000 for each business impacted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA huge concern for business leaders\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">James Bore, an independent <a href=\"https:\/\/securityjournaluk.com\/category\/categories\/cybersecurity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Cybersecurity<\/a> Expert commented:\u00a0\u201cThese findings will be a huge concern for business leaders who are looking to keep their networks and data safe. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIllegal streaming sites and apps sit outside the security checks that legitimate platforms go through, and that means the risk of running into malware is much higher.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cInstalling unauthorised software on work devices carries all of the same risks as on personal devices, particularly if companies haven\u2019t got up-to-date antivirus software installed. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMalware can be an entry point into company networks where sensitive commercial and financial information is stored,\u201d he concluded. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BeStreamWise has released a new cross-industry study which raises awareness of the dangers of illegal streaming. According to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[61,60,80],"class_list":["post-583100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}