Pirates Employ Morse Code to Hide Video Uploads Amid Shifting Piracy Landscape
According to a new report, digital pirates are getting more creative to evade anti-piracy detection — one tactic is using Morse code in video file names or metadata to hide movie titles and descriptions.
Researchers from the Russian firm F6 (formerly part of Group-IB) discovered that pirates embed Morse code strings within uploads so that simple text-based scanning tools won’t flag them. This kind of obfuscation is part of a broader shift: traditional piracy websites are seeing declining ad revenue and traffic, but piracy is adapting rather than disappearing.
Meanwhile, some legitimate platforms — for instance, RuTube in Russia — have become hubs for infringing content, especially since Western studios have pulled out of the Russian market. Full movies, high quality and often soon after release, are being uploaded there.
The article argues that anti-piracy defenders must stay ahead of evolving tactics. The use of Morse code highlights how pirates are exploiting weaknesses in detection algorithms, forcing copyright holders and enforcement agencies to continuously update their methods.
