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With so many steaming services from which to choose, and so much extra time to enjoy them, figuring out which are perfectly safe and which are suspect can be a confusing task. If you ask tech privacy experts about their concerns when it comes to these TV services, each may have their own personal preference, as well as a service they don’t recommend, but one appears to rise to the top of the list of options to keep your eye on for security purposes. This is the scary reason you may want to consider canceling your Netflix subscription, according to a security expert.
Say it isn’t so. As popular and entertaining as it is, Netflix is not flawless when it comes to security protection. “Netflix may be considered as a streaming service that is potentially the most compromising to one’s security,” says Patrick Smith, CTO and Cybersecurity expert from Firesticktricks. “Its services and accounts are under frequent cyberattacks such as email phishing.”
The popularity of this service and the abundance of customer accounts make this service the most vulnerable to cyberattacks and phishing, according to Smith. “Hundreds of thousands of email accounts have been registered with this subscription and streaming service, making cybercriminals attack the database of this service to lay their hands on more and more email accounts and important customer data to sell them in the black market,” Smith says.
Just because it poses risks doesn’t mean you may be eager to just get rid of Netflix. After all, it delivers great content. There are ways you can protect yourself while still enjoying Netflix’s services. “What the streaming service suggests to be safe from these types of scams and phishing emails is not to open the emails or the like provided in those emails,” Smith says. “I would also tell you to be aware of the fraud and always check if the email is from Netflix or scammers because I seldom see company emails with multiple links to open to update your account or change the billing details.”
Of course, considering the abundance of subscription services from which you can choose, you can also get rid of Netflix and turn your attention toward a few that do not pose the same risks. “I would suggest Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max as better alternatives to Netflix,” Smith says. “Both of them have countless movies and TV series for you, and some are way better than what Netflix offers you. I have observed that Netflix’s original movies are not that good, mainly because of their storylines.”
