{"id":28593,"date":"2024-11-16T06:38:10","date_gmt":"2024-11-16T11:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=28593"},"modified":"2024-11-16T06:38:10","modified_gmt":"2024-11-16T11:38:10","slug":"men-arrested-in-magis-tv-piracy-raids-also-face-malicious-software-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2024\/11\/16\/men-arrested-in-magis-tv-piracy-raids-also-face-malicious-software-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Men Arrested in Magis TV Piracy Raids Also Face Malicious Software Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Police raids in Colombia and Ecuador this week against people involved in the sale and supply of illegal streaming service Magis TV, have an unusual component. In addition to the usual charges relating to the distribution of unlicensed streams, initial reports suggest that cybersecurity crimes relating to the functionality of the Magis TV software will also feature<\/p>\n

There are dozens of recognizable brands in the illegal streaming market, all jostling for position in a chaotic market where trademarks are copied even more readily than movies or live TV streams.<\/p>\n

In Latin America, one brand stands out more than most, and not just because it has a bright orange logo. Believed to operate out of China, illegal streaming service Magis TV is consumed via a now ubiquitous Android app, made available on hundreds of websites, including those operated by a very large network of resellers.<\/p>\n

Rightsholders in the United States consider Magis TV a priority threat yet despite various enforcement measures in multiple countries, the service remains stubbornly online.<\/p>\n

Law Enforcement Operation in Colombia<\/h2>\n

On the back of action in\u00a0Ecuador<\/a>, Bolivia, Brazil and\u00a0Argentina<\/a>\u00a0in recent months, police in Colombia targeted people involved in the supply of Magis TV earlier this week.<\/p>\n

Information released by the Attorney General\u2019s Office indicates that two brothers, arrested after being tracked by the Specialized Directorate Against Computer Crimes, had been providing access to illegal TV streams under the brands \u2018Magis TV\u2019 and \u2018Magis Oficial.\u2019<\/p>\n

In common with the majority of similar cases, the pair stand accused of violating the intellectual property rights of multinational entertainment companies.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brothers arrested (Image: Fiscal\u00eda Colombia)\"magis-tv-colombia\"<\/picture><\/em><\/center> <\/p>\n

While operations like these aren\u2019t especially rare, the charges faced by the brothers go beyond copyright infringement.<\/p>\n

Piracy and Malicious Software Charges<\/h2>\n

\u201cThe brothers Juan Diego and Jos\u00e9 Daniel Santacruz Benavidez were arrested following investigations carried out by the CTI and the National Police in Pasto (Nari\u00f1o). These people were brought before a judge and charged with the crimes of violation of copyright and use of malicious software,\u201d the official\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose interested in acquiring these tools, called \u2018Magis TV\u2019 and \u2018Magis Official\u2019, accessed two websites to download them and thus access the audiovisual offer; however, they also installed malicious software on their devices that enabled the camera, alerted about the user\u2019s geolocation, and facilitated the transmission of personal data, photographs and videos, to external storage.\u201d<\/p>\n

As previously\u00a0reported<\/a>, cybersecurity firm ESET previously linked Magis TV to malware and botnets. As far as we\u2019re aware, these data exfiltration claims are new but since the Magis TV app comes in many shapes and sizes, there\u2019s no one-size-fits-all analysis that applies across the board.<\/p>\n

Malware Claims Gain Credibility in Colombia<\/h2>\n

Rightsholders have fully embraced malware warnings as part of their deterrent messaging in recent years. Unfortunately, the manner in which those claims are delivered meets a credibility crisis that\u2019s difficult to overcome.<\/p>\n

On one hand, malware and similar issues are portrayed as incredibly serious for consumers. Yet when other piracy risks are discussed in parallel \u2013 such as being arrested by the police for simply watching pirate IPTV \u2013 the emphasis is suddenly back on a comparatively minor crime for which the police continually find the resources.<\/p>\n

The end result is a stream of pirates prosecuted for copyright infringement or fraud repeatedly hitting the headlines. Meanwhile, prosecutions for spreading malware, stealing identities, and other serious offenses, are completely non-existent.<\/p>\n

Through this action, malware warnings have just become instantly more credible; they may even find support among the public.<\/p>\n

Enforcement Action in Ecuador<\/h2>\n

The war against Magis TV in Ecuador has been underway for some time, with\u00a0numerous blocking orders<\/a>\u00a0attempting to prevent access to dozens, if not hundreds of websites.<\/p>\n

Information released by police on Wednesday announced the arrest of a man in the province of Guayas, said to be behind \u201cone of the largest illegal streaming providers.\u201d When contacted by local publication\u00a0Primicias<\/a>\u00a0seeking clarification, police confirmed that this operation also targeted Magis TV.<\/p>\n

A short video posted to X by Ecuadorian Police, is a reminder that the\u00a0IT Crowd\u2019s parody<\/a>\u00a0of \u2018Piracy, It\u2019s a Crime\u2019 just a few years ago, is now just one restless finger away from becoming reality.<\/p>\n

An Extra.ec\u00a0report<\/a> identifies Javier Eduardo L\u00f3pez Cassan as the man arrested. He\u2019s described as an \u201cadministrator of Magis TV\u201d but what that means here is unclear. Resellers commonly have their own Magis TV-branded websites while others sell via social media; 51-year-old Cassan sold via WhatsApp and other platforms, police confirmed.<\/p>\n

In any event, police weren\u2019t taking anything for granted, as the video shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than 20 agents from different units participated in the operation, including the National Cybercrime Unit, the G3 Tactical Group of Guayaquil, plus Criminalistics and the Law Enforcement Unit (UMO). According to the Judiciary, L\u00f3pez Cassan already had a criminal record for concealing stolen objects and had two legal proceedings for failure to comply with alimony obligations,\u201d the publication reported.<\/p>\n

Whether copyright charges will feature in this case isn\u2019t made clear but according to the authorities, cybercrime offenses most certainly will. Cassan is facing charges of \u2018unauthorized access to a computer, telematic or telecommunications system,\u2019 which carries a potential sentence of between three and five years in prison.<\/p>\n

Source: \u00a0\"TorrentFreak\"<\/a> TorrentFreak.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/header>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Police raids in Colombia and Ecuador this week against people involved in the sale and supply of illegal streaming service Magis TV, have an unusual component. In addition to the usual charges relating to the […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[932,931,4536,786,2800,1778,4835,7120,2689,10805,2132],"class_list":{"0":"post-28593","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-world","9":"tag-argentina","10":"tag-bolivia","11":"tag-botnet","12":"tag-brazil","13":"tag-colombia","14":"tag-copyright","15":"tag-cyber-crime","16":"tag-cyber-security","17":"tag-ecuador","18":"tag-magis-tv","19":"tag-malware","20":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28593"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28596,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28593\/revisions\/28596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}