Huge Anti-Piracy Operation in Brazil Targets Hundreds of Websites & Apps

[dizmo]

16 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

Ok sanctions, so they went to piracy. Now piracy is gone too, and they're willing to pay for software, and they can't. What now, open source?

Uh, no. The economic sanctions weren't related to either. 

[Kisai]

21 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

[Citation Required]

 

Anything that comes out of "the scene" will be clean. If word got it out that a scene release contained malware that group would be done for.

 

Users downloading non scene releases roll the dice but with modern AVs being so effective the chances of a virus making it through are minimal.

 

Crackers do what they do because they like the challenge. Beating the system and learning how it works is their reward.

This is only a half-truth at best.

 

Yes, the people who actually figure out how to break the protections tend to release clean stuff, but then you have the script kiddies who basically just repackage it and load their own payloads into it. It's the kiddies who put it on the piratebay, not the crackers. The crackers don't want a breadcrumb trail to them.

 

It's no different from the drug scene. The people who make the drugs are not the people selling it on the street. Heck, big pharma was the one actually pushing the opioids, and it was the over-prescription and theft of the drugs from hospitals that got it onto the street before the tainted counterfeit stuff started showing up from China.

 

In a nutshell, breaking protections on software is a game for people, and it's a race between themselves and a maybe 10 other people in the world who have the knowledge to break the protections properly. There will also be a few hundred people who don't actually know how to break the protections, but know how to no-op out ineffective anti-piracy provisions. And the way to defeat all software protections is by patching the C/C++ runtime in memory when the program runs so that the software sees nothing amiss as it's quickly isolated. The "cracked" programs basically rip this unprotected module and repackage the program binaries. Programs that are not shipped as a single exe file, statically compiled are much harder to to crack. Anything that relies on a language other than C, is easily cracked, because ultimately their runtimes can just be intercepted and even the most clever protection is defeated by patching the runtime.

 

eg, games made with Unity can have all the microtransaction garbage the developer wishes for, but the pirate version will just patch out the IAP network connection and give the player a billion credits and that is enough for people to play it unless the game routinely updates the binary. It's effectively no different than satellite PPV piracy of the 90's. Emulate the IAP process, the game doesn't actually rely on code provided by the server. Live services are a joke, and we're the fools for paying for it.

[Master Disaster]

2 hours ago, Kisai said:

This is only a half-truth at best.

 

Yes, the people who actually figure out how to break the protections tend to release clean stuff, but then you have the script kiddies who basically just repackage it and load their own payloads into it. It's the kiddies who put it on the piratebay, not the crackers. The crackers don't want a breadcrumb trail to them.

 

It's no different from the drug scene. The people who make the drugs are not the people selling it on the street. Heck, big pharma was the one actually pushing the opioids, and it was the over-prescription and theft of the drugs from hospitals that got it onto the street before the tainted counterfeit stuff started showing up from China.

 

In a nutshell, breaking protections on software is a game for people, and it's a race between themselves and a maybe 10 other people in the world who have the knowledge to break the protections properly. There will also be a few hundred people who don't actually know how to break the protections, but know how to no-op out ineffective anti-piracy provisions. And the way to defeat all software protections is by patching the C/C++ runtime in memory when the program runs so that the software sees nothing amiss as it's quickly isolated. The "cracked" programs basically rip this unprotected module and repackage the program binaries. Programs that are not shipped as a single exe file, statically compiled are much harder to to crack. Anything that relies on a language other than C, is easily cracked, because ultimately their runtimes can just be intercepted and even the most clever protection is defeated by patching the runtime.

 

eg, games made with Unity can have all the microtransaction garbage the developer wishes for, but the pirate version will just patch out the IAP network connection and give the player a billion credits and that is enough for people to play it unless the game routinely updates the binary. It's effectively no different than satellite PPV piracy of the 90's. Emulate the IAP process, the game doesn't actually rely on code provided by the server. Live services are a joke, and we're the fools for paying for it.

Except that SHA and MD5 both exist, that's why a real scene release will have the NFO outside the archive, so it can be verified as unmodified before it's opened.

[Thaldor]

5 hours ago, Kisai said:

This is only a half-truth at best.

 

Yes, the people who actually figure out how to break the protections tend to release clean stuff, but then you have the script kiddies who basically just repackage it and load their own payloads into it. It's the kiddies who put it on the piratebay, not the crackers. The crackers don't want a breadcrumb trail to them.

-snip-

Except there actually is the whole different repacking community who are extremely proud of their work because packing the whole game into a smaller package and making it so that people can choose not to download useless localizations and language packets for them. Script kiddies come way later after the crackers have cracked the game and given them to the release groups who handle the shipping part through verified accounts and build the trust to the public. Go for the known ones (CODEX, CPY from crackers IGGGAMES from the releasers and FitGirl from repackers for example) and you are far more safer than even with official and legal software (anyone remember StarForce or Sonys XCP? Yeah, actual rootkits and viruses delivered to your PC through legally bought games and music CDs and what did the Sony BMGs President of Digital Business Division to say when it came out that the XCP was actually virus itself: "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it? The software is designed to protect our CDs from unauthorized copying and ripping." Yup, you are in better hands with pirates than with the industry).

[Trik'Stari]

On 11/4/2019 at 4:57 PM, handymanshandle said:

The US government: *ignores the parts of the country that are collapsing due to opiates*

Also the US government: "Hey, Brazil wants our help on piracy! Let's go do that!"

Took the words right out of my mouth.

 

We have a crippling mental illness problem here in the US, and they're busy fighting piracy cuz "MUH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS".