Here’s how to protect yourself.
Viruses and other forms of malware are the most basic of threats.
While many people have never had problems, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t worry about things.
In addition to people just eavesdropping on your connections, your downloads can also suffer.
Users who transfer copyright-infringing material also have to worry about getting caught via these same methods.
Encryption
One way to help alleviate these problems is to enable encryption for your connections.
This is not a perfect solution, however.
Enable Encryption in uTorrent
OpenuTorrent, go toOptions > Preferences, and then click where it saysBitTorrenton the left.
Under where it says “Protocol Encryption,” chooseEnabledand click onAllow incoming legacy connections.
This will allow outbound encryption but still accept non-encrypted connections when there are no encrypted connections available.
Enable Encryption in Transmission
OpenTransmissionand click onEdit > Preferences(Linux) orTransmission > Preferences(Mac OS).
Then select thePrivacytab (Linux) or thePeerstab (Mac OS).
Under the “Encryption mode” dropdown box, selectPrefer encryption.
This will still accept unencrypted connections when there is a lack of encrypted connections available.
IP Blockers
Another thing it’s possible for you to do is use an IP blocker.
These programs run alongside an existing firewall (you DO have a firewall, don’t you?)
and your BitTorrent client and they filter out IP addresses based on blocklists.
Blocklists compound ranges of IPs that contain known problems, such as monitoring and bad packet transfer.
Websites and trackers that are fine sometimes get blocked, and you have to manually allow them.
PeerBlock, once installed, allows you to download and update blocklists and automatically starts to block IP addresses.
Install and Configure PeerBlock on Windows
DownloadPeerBlock from their website.
ClickNextwhen you’re done.0
Next, you could choose to schedule what and how often to update.
The default are perfectly fine here, so clickNext.
You’ll see a pop-up and your selected blocklists will automatically update.
you’re able to exit via the icon in your system tray.
Serendipitously for us, however, Transmission can download and utilize blocklists very easily!
Open Transmission and click onEdit > Preferences(Linux) orTransmission > Preferences(Mac OS).
Then select thePrivacytab (Linux) orPeerstab (Mac OS) once again.
smack the checkmarks next to theEnable blocklistandEnable automatic updatesboxes, and then click theUpdatebutton.
Transmission will automatically download and utilize the P2P blocklist and will display the total number of rules being followed.
But, what if you had a reliable source?
You get a lot of perks when you join a private tracker, and there are many out there.
Doing your research is the best way to stay safe.
Edit: The tab under Preferences for Transmission on Mac OS was fixed.
It now correctly refers to the Peers tab.
