With the kid's school holidays upon us, the IT security vendor says that a number of site links promoting what promises to be a full movie stream are turning out to be survey sites that contain material that prompts pop ups or other potentially harmful material to be pushed to the users' PC.
According to Chris Boyd, a security researcher with Sunbelt Software, the main third-party sites are using surveys to gather information about the user and – to a child desperate to see the full movie – they might not think twice about filling in loads of information about themselves or their families.
Boyd – aka Paperghost online – also claims to have found that some sites are prompting users to install executable files on the computer – or running adult-themed pop ups that might be harmful to children trying to search for Toy Story 3-related material.
The Sunbelt researcher says that one of the most popular tactics of sites is advertising the 'full movie' on YouTube, but directing the end-user to other material instead.
In his security blog on this potentially nasty situation, Boyd says "most of the surveys we see tend to ask a lot of questions that reveal plenty of information about the individual filling them in, and you probably don't want your kids giving some random third party lots of information about Dad or whatever."
"I'm almost certain your child does not want to dine with Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, but what do I know", he said, commenting on one the advertisements on the survey sites.
And, he adds, many of the sites promoting these online versions of the film seem to use advertising networks that are a little more adult than most.
So which sites are driving this adult nastiness to our kids' eyes?
Boyd says that Wegotbest(dot.com) is launching a lot of traffic with popups contained inside the Flash player, and with gambling adverts popping out of the website itself – eventually throwing up a survey after the site had been inactive for ten minutes.
Other sites, meanwhile, encourage users to install executable files that include browser toolbars in order to obtain a password to open up a set of zipped files.
"Sites asking to install programs in return for the Toy Story game or movie should be avoided, along with any promises that sound too good to be true on YouTube. Ensure your children stick to those rules and your PC, personal information and sanity will hopefully remain intact", said Boyd.
Infosecurity has an added recommendation – just take the kids to watch Toy Story 3 at the cinema – it's a great movie.