I downloaded a cracked install from tpb (haxnode). It was a loader exe that loaded the original exe and supposedly removed the drm in RAM. It required admin permissions, I didn’t trust it, but i ran in a vm and nothing happened.
Then i told myself “i have microsoft defender and windows firewall control, they will warn me” and I ran it in my main laptop, and still nothing happened. Like, literally nothing happened. The original program would not start. It would simply exit. Nothing. The other 6 almost identical torrents from the same uploader but with a different program version had a similar result. I gave up.
Then i reboot, and firstly i notice a couple DOS prompts flashing on the screen, and windows firewall control asking me if “aspnet_compiler.exe” is allowed to access the internet or not.
Suspicious, i go to check that “aspnet_compiler.exe” and it’s located in the .net system folder, i scan it with microsoft defender and it doesn’t report as a virus. I do not pay attention to the fact that it doesn’t have a valid Microsoft signature, and i tell myself “probably just a windows update” and i whitelist it on the firewall.
After a few hours I realize “wait a minute: it’s impossible that an official windows exe isn’t signed by microsoft!” I go back to scan it, not infected… or it looks like, defender says “ignored because in whitelist”. What? The “loader” put c:* in the whitelist!
The “crack loader” wasn’t a virus per se. It dropped an obfuscated batch in startup, which had a base64 encoded attachment of the actual malware, that was copied in the .net framework directory with unassuming names…
And this for a $60 perpetual license program that i should buy anyway because it’s for work
Just to pile on: NEVER pirate stuff you use for work. Audits are a thing (especially if said software company gets suspicious for whatever reason) and you WILL be thrown under the bus at a moment’s notice and put on an industry wide shitlist because you are just too much of a liability after you get caught once.
Pirate for fun and hobbyist use. The moment you are getting paid, go legit.
This. My employer provides a laptop (Surface 7…eugh), and nothing personal outside of basic web browsing is done on it.
I know I sound dumb, and forgive me for not having work experience yet, but…
Why doesn’t your company pay for any license they need for you to do work? Like I get if someone was a freelancer, then they’re gonna have to pay for their own stuff, but like, a professional, in-house employee pays for their own license?
Am I missing context here?
A lot of people in graphics design et al are contractors. They get hired for a job, do it with their own resources, and then move on. Those folk tend to need to provide their own software.
Aside from that? Companies DO provide software. But, at least in my experience, early career staff decide they actually NEED matlab or some other super proprietary nonsense and take it upon themselves to get the tools they “need”. Which results in their manager having to have The Talk about why you don’t do that in an actual company and how they are REALLY lucky you are the one that saw them because that is a fireable offense.
in certain countries outside of the United States, companies using pirate software is normal and carries no legal risk. it companies in my country will install it for you on request.