this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

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I understand that sharing video, photos, documents etc. is relatively safe because the data is not executed in the processor as instructions. How come people are willing to download and install pirated software though? How can one be confident that it does not contain malicious addons? Are people just don't know the risks? Or are there protection mechanisms that I am missing? I mean since the software is usually cracked there is not much use in comparing checksums with the originals, is it?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Worth noting that paying for a license for software doesn't stop it being spying malware either. In fact the pirate versions often take out the spying and the reporting-to-homebase that proprietary software does.

The photoshop that phones home to check a license is arguably more malicious than the pirate version that has been cracked so it doesn't do that.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Good and valid point. I use opensource software wherever I can.

Though paid software is not going to encrypt your data for ransom or use a keylogger to steal bitcoin (yet).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

There was an antivirus that was caught running a bitcoin miner in the background tbf. If memory serves it was Norton?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Long story short.

  1. Be prepared for disaster.
  2. Scan it. Sandbox it if concerned.
  3. Firewall inspect/block/allow every outbound comm.
  4. Get it from a trusted source.

Basically the same stuff you should be doing with all software.

Edit for firewall clarification.