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 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year ago

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

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

It's one of those high-risk, high-returns case scenarios. You gamble. If you succeed, you will be saving some buck. Some software licences can be very, very expensive.

There is no way of knowing the answer to your questions. You just use your intuition and take a leap of faith.

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

Some software licences can be very, very expensive.

When I was in art school in the early 2000’s, I worked with computer controlled weaving looms. The program for drafting patterns and running the AVL Compu Dobby on the loom was free to download. In order to use it, though, you had to have a $3000 usb key.

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

The part that hurt was the ancient Mac II that ran the loom. When I encountered the Y2K bug on it, some upperclassmen said, “Oh we’ve just been turning the clock back a year.” Turned it back as far as it would go…1969

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

If i were to pay for an AutoCAD license , it would be over 200$ A MONTH

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

What kind of cheap-ass, stripped down AutoDesk suite are you getting for $200/mo. Last I checked, the architectural suite was north of $4500/yr.