Recently, a Microsoft-sponsored research study was published to show that there was a “prevalence of malicious code and potentially unwanted software in pirated software”. That’s all well and good, but some of the statistics mentioned I found conveyed a very different message. And I’m sure I’m not alone.
25 percent of the Web sites we accessed offering counterfeit product keys, pirated software, key generators or crack tools attempted to install either malicious software or potentially unwanted software.
Does that mean 75% of websites accessed offered counterfeit product keys, pirated software, key generators or crack tools did not attempt to install malicious software? And are in theory, safe?
11 percent of the key generators and crack tools downloaded from Web sites contained either malicious or potentially unwanted software.
Does that mean an astounding 89% of key generators and crack tools downloaded from web sites were also safe?
59 percent of the key generators and crack tools downloaded from peer-to-peer networks contained either malicious software or potentially unwanted software.
Does that mean 41% of key generators and crack tools downloaded from P2P networks were also safe?
And if you think I’m just being ignorant, check out these (ugly) graphs in the official report (PDF).
If these results were designed to deter people from such activities, then it’s not doing a very good job.
Comments for "Reversing reverse-psychology"
Lewis
To me, that seems like pretty good odds!!! Thanks Microsoft, looks like I’ll be pirating Vista
Pirate
That seems about right if you use google to find your cracks. Just about ALL malicious software is added AFTER the crack has been released the the people that make them.Even then you have to be a GIANT n00b to get infected, it is very odvious when a crack is malicous. Just look at the NFO file included with the crack to get a list of all the files that should be in the package. Most of the time there is an extra file called Crack.exe or something similer which was added by the webmaster.
I have NEVER found a piece of malicious software in a bittorent file that I have downloaded (for testng purposes only of course. If you know where to get the cracks 98% are clean, and 1% are false postives when scanning with an Anitvirus and 0.9 dont actually work correctly and te rest are dangerous.
Long Zheng
What wonderful insights into people’s piracy skills.
Darren
Hehe, now I understand “Next Week in Tech: Edition 2″ Vista does seam “east” to get around, but with the update tool may send your product key to Microsoft if their curious.
I myself will NEVER copy vista(unless I’m desperate) after the RC1 dies, somewhat these products keys will work with the real Vista, am I right? Once again Long, you confused me…
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Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me | Ed Bott’s Windows Expertise |
[...] Long Zheng looks at the latest Microsoft research on counterfeit software and piracy and turns the numbers on their head. Does that mean 75% of websites accessed offer[ing] counterfeit product keys, pirated software, key generators or crack tools did not attempt to install malicious software? And are in theory, safe? [...]
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