Who is the most dangerous streaming video character? The Mandalorian! [Kaspersky, a Russian antivirus company, has concluded that the Disney Plus series of Star Wars characters is one of the most frequently used by cybercriminals to trick unsuspecting victims into installing malware or luring them to phishing sites. concluded that it is one of the streaming programs and movies most frequently used by cybercriminals to trick unsuspecting victims into installing malware or luring them to phishing sites.

"This great program seems to be attracting the interest of cybercriminals as well as viewers around the world," said Anton V. Ivanov, head of Kaspersky's advanced threat research and detection team.

Among the most acclaimed streaming movies and TV shows nominated for Best Picture of 2021, "The Mandalorian" accounted for 68% of all malware infection attempts observed by Kaspersky in the first three weeks of January.

Netflix's chess thriller "The Queen's Gambit" was a distant second with just 11%, while steady favorite "Ozark" was third with 6%.

February was a bit more balanced: while "The Mandalorian" was still the leader, its share of malware infection attempts dropped to 33%, while "The Queen's Gambit" share rose to 19%; in third place, "Ozark," Andy Samberg's time-loop comedy "Palm Springs" lost 14%.

Old-fashioned phishing scams using streaming content were also present. Kaspersky found one offering streaming and downloads of Carey Mulligan's revenge comedy drama Promising Young Woman.

These fake streams, Kaspersky noted, attempt to steal passwords and credit cards.

Not to mention that most of these scams are associated with sleazy websites that offer free access to paid content. Without getting into the moral of the story, remember that while some pirated content sites and streams are safe to watch, they are not absolutely safe. It is much safer to pay and watch movies and TV shows through legal means.

If you must watch pirated content, take precautions: install antivirus software on your PC or Mac to check for malicious files lurking in pirated content. Use that antivirus software to scan your downloads before installing the movie player or playing the files.

You should also check the file extensions of the files you download, as Kaspersky warns: "Movie files never have a .exe or .msi extension.