Is Bittorrent Safe?

Your knowledge and opinions on Bittorrent please. I've used it till recently when my father discovered of its use and shut it down. He is extremely paranoid of any P2P program (had to play system admin one too many times) and won't allow any on the network. He thinks that anyone can get into his personal files and data by me using Bittorrent. Is his assumption true? I know some of the torrents include spyware etc but then again, can't any download? Is Bittorrent itself safe to use - provided that the download is clean? Thanks.

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As for your fathers fear that someone can get into his personal files and stuff just tell him that If someone (hacker of some sort) wants to invade his PC and get to his personal files they realy realy realy do NOT need any p2p program to do so if he`s a target they WILL get in one way or another.

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To answer your question, no BitTorrent will not get any data from your computer (assuming that the download is clean like you said). Careful on the torrent program that you are getting though. If it's just the original BitTorrent program, then you should be ok. There are a few out there that contain spyware, just for your information.

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I've got the same problem. My father is afraid that his personal files will be corrupted or stolen, he don't have any on this computer but he's still saying it. But on the other hand he don't buy any firewall or router.

Bittorrent don't touch that kind of files so he shouldn't be scared for that. The only danger of P2P programs is that there could be some files that aren't clean and can contain a trojan or virus. Bittorrent is also quite safe on that point (more then programs like Kazaa for example) and I think you'll more likely get something from a normal site then from Bittorrent.
Like Elforeal said their are many, many other ways for a cracker to get into your computer if he wants to do that. (not a hacker like he said, hackers won't harm anybody, they do it to test systems. Crackers are the guys that create much troubles in this world)

_=jeroen=_

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What you also can do is use an zipped version of the bit torrent program. (bit comet is good for that) unzip it to a temporary directory, download your stuff, and when you're done, re-zip the programfiles back into the zip, and locking it with a password or something. That way, you can still get your files and prevent your father from knowing you've been downloading.

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If you are using a commonly known decent torrent program (like BitComet, Azureus or BitTornado) it is far more likely that programs like Internet Explorer will leak data than it.

Bitttorrent in itself isn't any more dangarous than some other network traffic.


What has given p2p programs a bad name security wise is that often people try to use them to spread malicious software and that some programmers have bumdled spyware with the clientsoftware. But like I said, as long as you stick to programs that are known to be spyware free and otherwise secure as well AND pay attention what you download and what trackers you use you should be safe.


By the way, you can tell your dad that the only way that he can absolutely safely protect his files from not getting to Internet is taking a pair of clippers to the network cable.

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I've been using bittorrent for quite a while now, and I've shared probably more than 50GB with it, under Windows XP, and 98... I've never had a problem with it, never lost any information or anything (I've ran it without any firewall on).

Bittorrent is an open source software, meaning that there are hundreds of programmers around the world involved in the development, improvement and revision of this software, so I don't think they're involved in a hidden conspiracy or plot against p2p users.

Besides, I read something on the first reply something that I think it's absolutely right, if a hacker wants to crack into your system, it doesn't matter if you're running BT or not. He/she will probably exploit some other fault that your system might have, like if you're on the web without a firewall or with a poorly configured firewall.

Bottomline, on my personal opinion, BT is a great tool to share data and software.

Hope you can fix the issues with your father and that my opinion comes usefull to you...

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On Windows ... Bit Torrent is scarry there are many hacks possible which are there in open... So Wouldnt advise.. unless you have a very good controlled Firewall...
On Linux.. selinux helps...but can be achieved with a firwall also....

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Thanks for all your input guys...

The zip/unzip idea, although clever, wouldn't work in my situation.

He "monitors" the router and whenever it's flashing alot he goes to see who's using all the bandwith. Bittorrent downloads are extremely slow for me since he's got the router's ports locked down - (highest ul/dl I've gotten is 26/24kbs). Downloads (usually) take days to complete and I wouldn't be at the computer to monitor them 247.


PS: Yes, I've tried configuring the router...he's password protected it.

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I have to say that Bittorrent won't get into your files. I mean, not the program or that guy in the BT site would be sued and beat to death. As for the files that have been shared or are sharing, I have to say you should check it for viruses/trojans/backdoor programs first.

Here - this might clarify a bit...

You'll need a firewall (software, hardware, doesn't matter which) because this can help your computer from sending/receiving data packets from or to certain programs or files. This is a good way to prevent some program sending files over the Net to someone else's computer.

Sygate Personal Firewall (there is a free version) is a very good one. I have been using it for almost a year now

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