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?
It’s partly an honor system but also, anyone distributing malicious cracks are quickly called out whether its on public tracker comments like PirateBay or removed from private trackers.
Distributors of GOOD and CLEAN cracks often earn good rep in the community too, like Monkrus which I’ve had no issue with before.
Also, in my experience, installing a malware-packaged adobe app isn’t actually all that bad if you run a malware scan immediately afterwards. With the scale and breadth of software piracy there isn’t much money in making advanced malwares beyond bundling an existing one into an installer. I don’t recommend it, but it’s still easier and cheaper than paying Adobe!
TLDR the community polices itself pretty well considering.
Also, I would consider some legitimate licenced software more of a malware than a cracked one. If your software forces always-online license, comes with annoying startup processes, nagging ad screens, etc, it’s malware. And if there’s a cracked version without those things, I’ll take the cracked version any day.
I agree with the sentiment, but coin miners and ransomware are of course a lot more obtrusive to the average user’s experience than the malware you’d associate with most proprietary licensed software. I can see why people are less willing to risk it.
I agree with what you said, but how do I make sure that the cracked software is not further altered by other people and uploaded. Do you just select the torrent with the most peers? Is that enough? When using one-click-hosters it is even harder…
No. It isn’t about the torrent with most peers. It is about the source and the uploader. As someone has already mentioned it, it is about the Reputation!
Sorry, I am not very familiar with torrents. How can I verify that a torrent comes from a certain person? Everyone can make modified copies of the original data and uploadtorrentss that look alike. How can I avoid those?
It’s hard! A lot of it is, like I said, reputation. Sources of safe pirated and cracked software are maintained mainly through word-of-mouth - The crappier and dodgy sources will always invest into SEO to get to the top of the results, and are more likely to avoid legal trouble as companies appreciate that malware-infested installers actually help discourage new pirates.
Also, there’s generally little incentive to go beyond the basic modifications. Most online scams, even outside malware, cast the net as wide as possible and even go out of their way to avoid complexity. They get the most money out of scamming new and uneducated users who pay up quickly. The same logic means they want advanced users to know it’s a scam to avoid wasting time on targets who won’t bother paying anyway.
I bet there are exceptions to this rule, but since scamming and malware are such low-profit ventures there’s a lot of incentive on quantity over quality.