For folks who pirate games, how the hell are you confident malware isn’t being injected into the executable?
For one to pirate I would assume source code has to be available and recompiled without DRM, right? How can anyone be confident that nothing else is being added to fry or takeover folks systems?
How are you confident the binary you install from the developer doesn’t contain a malicious payload?
The issue is not that pirated executables might contain malware, but that people don’t have a clue how to identify safe sources. As consumers we use corporate trust (reputable company). As pirates, we use social trust (scene, fitgirl, etc.) Neither method discovers malware.
There are relatively few people who “crack” the games and the community around it is very verbal. Some people go deep on inspecting things, and if something gets found they’re added to a list of untrusted sources. From what I’ve seen it’s hard to get that trust back.
So yeah it’s definitely a risk, but not a super dangerous one. Especially if you use Linux and a VM
In many cases, legit games have more malware (spyware, DRM, rootkits, etc.) and the cracked versions remove it. It’s annoying to pay for a game and it won’t work offline because the company wants to collect your data, but the cracked version does work offline.
Pirates vet things with lists of clean sites/trackers/tools etc. As long as pirates stick to those, they generally don’t have to worry about malware. Such a list is not difficult to find.
Sure, it’s possible for someone to get caught out by one of these sites or users deciding to turn bad, but that’s only going to work for like a day. It’s like kicking a hornet’s nest in the pirating world.
Im sure whoever injects malware would be harassed and threatened to be doxxed. it’s a point of pride and the release groups very small. Ironically, the “risky” cracked version actually looks and runs better than the version you buy legitimately.
For folks who pirate games, how the hell are you confident malware isn’t being injected into the executable?
For one to pirate I would assume source code has to be available and recompiled without DRM, right? How can anyone be confident that nothing else is being added to fry or takeover folks systems?
How are you confident the binary you install from the developer doesn’t contain a malicious payload?
The issue is not that pirated executables might contain malware, but that people don’t have a clue how to identify safe sources. As consumers we use corporate trust (reputable company). As pirates, we use social trust (scene, fitgirl, etc.) Neither method discovers malware.
I’ll trust a pirate giving me something for free over a company selling me something for free.
There are relatively few people who “crack” the games and the community around it is very verbal. Some people go deep on inspecting things, and if something gets found they’re added to a list of untrusted sources. From what I’ve seen it’s hard to get that trust back.
So yeah it’s definitely a risk, but not a super dangerous one. Especially if you use Linux and a VM
You’re gaming in a Linux VM?
Other way around. In a Windows VM on Linux
In many cases, legit games have more malware (spyware, DRM, rootkits, etc.) and the cracked versions remove it. It’s annoying to pay for a game and it won’t work offline because the company wants to collect your data, but the cracked version does work offline.
Pirates vet things with lists of clean sites/trackers/tools etc. As long as pirates stick to those, they generally don’t have to worry about malware. Such a list is not difficult to find.
Sure, it’s possible for someone to get caught out by one of these sites or users deciding to turn bad, but that’s only going to work for like a day. It’s like kicking a hornet’s nest in the pirating world.
Im sure whoever injects malware would be harassed and threatened to be doxxed. it’s a point of pride and the release groups very small. Ironically, the “risky” cracked version actually looks and runs better than the version you buy legitimately.
I trust the sources I acquire the game from.
I also don’t do anything but play video games with my PC so even if it gets infected with something, it’s just a minor inconvenience to reformat it.
99% of things on Steam can be pirated by switching one single dll with one that’s been around ages and known to be fine.
This is the number one reason why I’m not doing that anymore.
Also (foilhat) number one reason why so many people are urging people to do it.