Elimination of the “Big Three pirated CDNs” caused damage to 90% of illegal online cinemas in Russia

Group-IB, an information security company, announced that the closure of one of the largest pirated video content providers, Moonwalk CDN (Content Delivery Network), led to the liquidation of two more CDN providers. We are talking about CDN providers HDGO and Kodik, which were also major suppliers of pirated video content for Russia and the CIS countries.

According to Group-IB experts, the elimination of the “Big Three pirated CDNs” caused serious damage to 90% of Russian web resources that stream pirated video content. The company also notes that in the near future new players may replace closed CDN providers.

Group-IB specialists first spoke about the work of the largest pirate CDN provider Moonwalk in February of this year. At its peak, Moonwalk aggregated 42 movies and TV series, providing other pirates with a convenient service that helped automate the posting of video content on pirate websites. It is worth noting that the maintenance of the infrastructure necessary for the operation of a CDN provider is estimated at $807, while the pirates’ income could amount to millions of dollars.

This month, a concerted effort by several anti-piracy organizations led to the shutdown of the Moonwalk CDN. This caused content delivery issues for two other major pirate CDNs that shared services with Moonwalk. servers, located in the Netherlands. Almost immediately after Moonwalk's closure, Kodik lost most of its content: out of 17,000 films and TV series, about 8000 remained. By the time HDGO shut down, the CDN provider's database contained over 25,000 films and TV series. Ultimately, HDGO shut down on October 18, and Kodik ceased operations on October 23.

Group-IB specialists believe that the closure of Moonwalk, HDGO and Kodik will deal a serious blow to 90% of pirated online cinemas in Russia. The “Big Three Pirate CDNs” were primarily aimed at audiences from Russia and the CIS. Moonwalk's plans included entering the Brazilian pirate market. By the time of closure, the CDN provider’s database included about 2000 paintings in Portuguese.

Source: 3dnews.ru