Illegal download sites have been publishing commercial software for free download to their members for years. Both commercial and open source branches fall prey to these websites posting their software on these sites.

There have been many other download sites that have been shut down by many of the Joomla extension developers including us at Joomla Showroom. There are many reasons why these sites should be avoided.

Beware Of Warez Sites

This type of site that is known to cause a lot of trouble to a person’s computer are sites that are known as warez sites. Warez sites are web sites that people go to to get pirated software, serial numbers, etc.

Here is just a short list of reasons why you should not use software and templates aquired from these malicious warez download sites:

• These types of sites are breeding grounds for malicious hackers trying to inject very nasty software into your computer.
• When you are visiting a warez site you are generally asking for trouble, not only in terms of copyright violations, but from malware too. Not only can the site itself  pose a security risk but any software you download may well do so too.
• Many of the software that is listed on these websites has been modified to include hidden links and back door scripts that can be used to gain access to your Joomla website or to send the hacker confidential information about your server and website such as usernames and passwords.