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Showing posts with label Software Piracy. Show all posts
User Privacy
Cracked Software Cyber Security Data Safety Piracy Software Piracy User Privacy

Think Twice Before Using Pirated Software

 

Everyone has at some point in their lives dabbled in the realm of pirated software. Getting free software appeals to a wide range of users, most of whom are unaware of the risks involved. Many customers choose to install unauthorised or pirated copies of software as its price rises. We'll go over the dangers using unauthorised copies might cause. 

Your computer becoming infected is the first threat you encounter. It's conceivable that the crack is malware that has been poorly disseminated. It's possible that some of you think this is just a false positive from an antivirus programme. That, however, is not completely accurate. Malware's negative effects are well known to everyone: it slows down your computer, sends out your personal information, invites friends in, corrupts your data, and so forth. This includes passwords, address books, and information about credit cards and bank accounts that might all be immediately utilised by identity thieves. 

In this article, we will explain why downloading such illegitimate software is risky. 

What Exactly Is Software Piracy? 

Software that has been illegally copied, disseminated, and used is referred to as pirated software. A person who makes several copies of a programme and sells them is the basic example of software piracy, which can include a range of actions. Software piracy is frequently criminalised under copyright infringement laws on the grounds that it violates the copyrights of the developer. 

Software cracking methods

Crackers employ a variety of techniques to circumvent licence keys and software security protections.

Keygen cracking 

Keygen cracking is the process of creating legitimate software licensing keys using a key generating application. This kind of software, also referred to as a "keygen," examines the technique used by the underlying application to produce genuine licence keys for customers who buy software licences. Keygens are used by crackers to get around software activation restrictions and gain access to premium services that are only available to customers who pay. In order for the software to be utilised on numerous computers, the keygen tool is typically supplied along with the cracked version of the software. 

Cracking a patch 

By using this technique, crackers examine the software's source code and produce a programme (referred to as a "patch") that alters it. First, crackers analyze the software's source code to locate the algorithms in charge of enforcing its security measures. The code is then modified by the cracker, who entirely removes these safety precautions. The patch, a brief programme that makes the modifications when applied to the software, is created by crackers after modification. This patch is provided with the cracked software, making it possible to use it with numerous copies of the same programme without having to pay for the licence. 

Server-based cracking 

In server-based cracking, the software's security features are bypassed by setting up a collection of servers. The cracked software is made downloadable from these servers. The servers are set up to go around the security precautions put in place by the software creators. Crackers accomplish this by either directly altering the software's code or by enhancing an already cracked version of the software. They do this by using a key generator to create licence keys for the software. Once this is done, the crackers typically offer a download link so users may access the cracked software on a website. 

Why Should You Stop Using Pirated Software? 

You become more open to assault because of it. Research shows that 34% of unlicensed software downloaded through P2P was malware-infected, which infects a machine after it is downloaded. Of the group, Trojans made up almost half. Malware is made available to you when you install illegal software. Your computer and the data it stores could be destroyed by ransomware, viruses, Trojan horses, and other malicious software. Malicious virus that can access your data is present in some pirated software items. Your gadget and webcam can be controlled using this. Utilising illegally obtained software puts you at risk for a denial of service attack.

The following are some of the risks you may encounter: 

Incompatibility: You might find that the pirated software isn't compatible with your device, meaning it won't function when you need it most. This is true since the software are pirated versions of the originals. The accuracy of your results may change if these software tools work as intended. Because some businesses check the registration of their software, it's possible that the application will function for a time before failing. 

Legal concerns: Everything that has an original will almost definitely be faked. When someone borrows your concept, claims ownership, and then markets it, it is unfair. Businesses should naturally wish to protect their assets. Because they don't adhere to the guidelines, purchasing counterfeit software is not a good idea. The copyright has been violated. 

A product upgrade is not feasible: As new patches or updates are released, you can enhance your programme experience by updating it. This cannot be played on the piracy version. So regardless of the limitations, you're stuck with it. Upgrade attempts to original packages may result in punishment. There is no way to upgrade the product.
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Window Domains
Driver issue ESET Kernel Hacks Microsoft Software Piracy Vulnerability and Exploits Window Domains

Unprotected Access to Windows' Centre: Signed Kernel Drivers

 

ESET researchers investigated the misuse of vulnerable kernel drivers in depth saying "Software" drivers are among the different types of kernel drivers that provide particular, non-hardware-related capabilities such as software debugging and diagnostics, as well as system analysis. These have the potential to greatly increase the attack surface. 

Although it is no longer possible to directly load a malicious, unsigned driver in current versions of Windows, and kernel rootkits are deemed obsolete, there are still ways to load malicious code into the kernel, particularly through manipulating legal, signed drivers. There are many drivers available from a variety of hardware and software suppliers that allow you to completely access the kernel with minimal effort. 

The most common vulnerabilities detected in-kernel drivers:
  • Checks that restrict read and write access to critical model-specific registers are disabled (MSRs). 
  • Exposing the ability to read and write from physical memory in user mode. 
  • The ability to read and write to virtual kernel memory from user mode is now enabled. 

"When malware actors need to run malicious code in the Windows kernel on x64 systems with driver signature enforcement in place, carrying a vulnerable signed kernel driver seems to be a viable option for doing so," says Peter Kálnai, Senior Malware Researcher at ESET and one of the report's co-investigators. 

Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver, or BYOVD, is a technique that has been observed in the wild by both high-profile APT actors and commodity malware, such as the RobbinHood ransomware, which, as commodity malware, aims to reach as many people as possible. As a result, seeing it use a BYOVD approach is uncommon but significant. 


Mitigation strategies that work :
  • Virtualization-based security is a Windows 10 feature that uses hardware virtualization to place the kernel in a sandbox, safeguarding the operating system with various protections.
  • Drivers in recent Windows systems have a valid signature based on an "acceptable" certificate, which can be revoked. Revocation of a vulnerable driver's certificate would be a simple approach to "disarm" it and render it useless. 
  • When the most notoriously susceptible drivers are detected on a system, Microsoft and numerous third-party security product suppliers, including ESET, use driver blocklisting to detect and eliminate them. 
Vulnerable drivers have been exploited by both game cheaters and malware producers, and while significant progress has been made to reduce the impacts, the fight continues. The people responsible for the problem want to remedy it — the vendors who were contacted were quite proactive during the disclosure process, eager to repair the flaws that were discovered. 

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Software Piracy
Cracked Softwares MalwareBytes Security News Software Piracy

Malwarebytes offers pirates a free one year license

Software companies have been serving the general public for years. But in this process, starts the raging war between the companies and the so-called "crackers" who try to counterfeit genuine products in order to promote piracy.

This creates a loophole in the distribution part of the products. This battle has seen some technical advancement in preventing counterfeiting of the services.

While Microsoft has implemented a product activation procedure for the Windows Operating system and its Office suite, some of the premiere gaming company have a registration process into their servers in order to activate the game, declining which the game becomes unavailable for playing. Yet, there is a continuous struggle amongst the "cracking " society to crack the softwares for free access and piracy.

While this struggle has accelerated with time, a company has finally decided to allow the vicious pirates to gain legit access to their product. Malwarebytes, a premium security firm has initiated Amnesty, a program to enable the users who have procured the serial key from piracy dealers or have downloaded it from the internet, to reissue their security key for free. This reissued key will provide the user with premium access to Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for a period of 12-months.

The company states that the internet has good pioneers as well as bad pirates. While the pioneers work hard day and night in order to provide users with state of the art services, pirates try to dupe people into buying pirated versions of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

"Amnesty program has initiated providing free replacement keys to the premium customers who have been facing inconvenience because of pirated keys or software abuse for Malwarebytes Anti-Malware".

To ease it up, you can start by downloading the latest version of Anti-Malware Premium(direct link to download). Once you are done with the installation, the activation setup is initiated, where you have to enter your illegal activation key and proceed. This redirects you to the dialog box which gives you the option to select "I’m not sure where I got my key, or I downloaded it from the Internet". The company then issues you with a new key along with a 12-months free premium membership.

This has been started by Malwarebytes, who are providing one of the best security suites and anti virus tools in the market.
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