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There is a new variant, Exorcise 2.0 ransomware, in which it will redirect you to a fake software websites that is riddled with their ransomware. And this cyber threat are using a technique called malvertising,


https://blog.malwarebytes.com/threat-analysis/2015/06/popcash-malvertising-leads-to-cryptowall-3-0/

So one you are redirected to this fake website, let's say you are looking for a crack Windows 10,

https://i.imgur.com/7mnmz52.png

And once you download this archive, (clever trick) as it is not detected Google Safe Browsing, Microsoft SmartScreen, or installed security software. And it you run it, then your machine encrypted. And you will see something like this:

https://i.imgur.com/y6ZcQxV.png

So it will demand from $50 to $10k as payment in BTC.

Any run results: https://app.any.run/tasks/d95ea558-fc88-4480-bc3d-3ea04d528003/

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/fake-software-crack-sites-used-to-push-exorcist-20-ransomware/

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So this is a reminding to everyone, not just downloading torrent files, but crack software as well should be no-no if you are crypto space. Of course, for some of us, the price of a legit software is expensive, but it is better to purchase them than trying to find a crack version that will cost you everything. Maybe in the next iteration of this malware, we might see it more dangerous as it might steal all our personal information store in our machine.

I don't really encourage people on downloading cracked files/games online as you really don't have any clue on whether or not what you are downloading is clean from any kind of malware or virus. That's why if you can't afford it with your money or you just don't want to spend your money on something I would still try to avoid on going to these kinds of websites that try to offer up something free, that's one of the obvious traps that there is something wrong.

Microsoft’s Digital Defence report (88 pages - see https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2020/09/29/microsoft-digital-defense-report-2020-cyber-threat-sophistication-rise/) states that:


Microsoft stated that "Over 70% of human-operated ransomware attacks in the past year originated with Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) brute force" (based on (*)), but that may perhaps be more related to corporate ransomware attacks. Personal desktop attacks, in my opinion, may be increasingly due to hacked software and downloaded documents with macros, possibly surpassing RDP attacks.

Even though BleepingComputer’s report states that Exorcist 2.0 finds its point of entry through people downloading fake cracked software (whether ones goes there by will, or is redirected there from a legit site), I’ve seen a couple of sites stating that it can also enter your system with the (kind of) classical document that one receives in an emails with some pretext, and is opened, only to unwillingly allow the ransomware software to be installed through the document’s scripts (in allowed).

(*) https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/fbi-says-140-million-paid-to-ransomware-offers-defense-tips/

It's pretty true to say that people who download randomly on the internet are likely to have their device (P.C. or phone) infected with malware, ransomware, phishing attacks etc. The only point of contact when downloading should be through the official website or original link provided by the 'providers' for it's users. A cracked software version, a crypto wallet, applications etc can be infected with malware and the rest, that will compromise your device as long as it's not from the recommended or official source.

The thing to do with cracked stuff is to keep the download you have and reuse in future if they work well. There are plenty of programs I've used for years on junk PCs that gave me no trouble at all so they get loaded up on the next one too.

For your crypto fun you should be keeping to a walled garden anyway if you value what you have.

And when it comes to Windows 10 Microsoft don't really care all that much if you're not activated. You can still use it in perpetuity. I'd much rather get the occasional nudge from them than go to shithole websites and download unknown crap.

Perhaps not enough know that.

I think people should be generally more aware that there's a lot of bespoke malware circulating that doesn't get caught by antivirus software. Many of which run silently in the background, hence the importance of cold storage and hardware wallets.

Most of the 'alternatives' I have tried I fucking hated. I guess it beats having your life stolen away from you but I'll bet 9 times out 10 people will sample one of these and then go look for a crack again.

Office alternatives in particular never turned me on. I haven't found a free proper video editor I've liked at all either but that's one of those things you get used to and don't want to relearn.

If nothing else many of the alternatives out there look plain ugly and straight out of the 1980s. It's only a handful of tweaks to transform them into something appealing and shiny. If I'm going to spend countless hours staring at something you may as well not assault my eyeballs.

First of all, nobody in their right mind downloads cracks from a blog site. Pretty much all of them are fake. Only newbies who don't know much about cracking go to these sites.

The real cracked software is found in torrents on public trackers, but there are some releases on file sharing sites and even Usenet.

Newbies usually shy away from torrenting, because their ISPs send them angry threats that they'll cancel their service.
Hence why they visit these fake sites instead, that their ISPs can't monitor since it's HTTPS secured.

Unfortunately the Google search algorithm anti-piracy tweak knocked down all the real sites but left all the fake sites up. That's because they remove the site from the results only if Google receives a DMCA (and they get 3 million requests per day (https://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/news/google-receives-3-million-pirate-link-takedown-requests-everyday-report-851836)).
Fake download sites are not legit hence nobody sends Google a DMCA notice for indexing them.

And finally Duckduckgo has far less DMCAs served a day so pirate sites stay indexed on that and so it's the search engine of choice for pirates, but the rest of the world uses google so the cause for people getting malware from cracks is their being unknowledgable about how piracy works and just wanting to grab the free stuff.

Same applies for movies and TV, I've seen lame attempts by fakes to download you a tiny EXE file instead of the large video file you asked for. The trickery is easy to spot if you know a little about how operating systems work, sadly they don't know and don't want to learn how. Trying to get a crack without knowledge about the internet is like walking into a dark cave with no flashlight, GPS or radio.


You can always use OpenShot video editor which you can run easily on most linux distributions using its AppImage binary.

Hah, I'm just trying to get myself comfortable with LibreOffice, but I don't have a choice though, I get myself involved in some printing business locally here and most of the time the output is not the good as compare to MS Office though, click colors and alignment, so I have to switch back.

Even if you're not in crypto world though, you shouldn't be looking for crack softwares unless you wanted to mess everything in your life. These cyber threat actors has really evolved throughout the years, maybe 5-10 years this kind of malware is not present or at least less harmful, just pop up ads. Now the game has change.

Most of the people using windows cracked version on their PCs even in this 2020 and it is okay to use as long as you are not having any important files and crypto wallet like apps.Even I was a person who uses pirated apps in the past but not anymore. :)

Torrents are full of malware too. I suggest checking piracy-related subreddits, they often have links to more or less verified resources as well as feedback and discussions, but still, pirating is always a gamble. If you have at any point installed pirated software on a system, consider it unsafe for any sensitive operations, like dealing with crypto.


Before crypto I would pirate anything and everything, worst case I'll have to reinstall my pirated Windows, but after crypto I'm only using open-source software, or buying a licensed one - even though I don't store coins on my online PC, I still don't want taking any risks. It's true that open-source alternatives aren't as good as their commercial counterparts, but I sleep better knowing that there's little chance I have malware that can mess with my crypto and other private stuff.

It must have been many months since I did anything crypto related on a computer, exchanges etc, other than being on here. But for the proper stuff I have a separate machine. Much more time is spent doing conventional stuff and I'd rather be doing that with my evil machine than some goody two shoes filled with irritating shite.

I still suggest you to be careful, install a new one instead. Even if your Windows is not activated you can still use it without any problems, probably lose a few features that are not essential when you use your PC. Or you can just go with Linux.

There are so many of this in the blackhatforum and although we can use online tools like VirusTotal (https://www.virustotal.com/gui/)
it's not a guaranty that it is safe to downloaded these anti virus tools can only analyze known viruses but not new virus that comes with a crack software you download, it's better to spend money than to compromised your machine.

There are many people who installed cracked software, they will choose that way than to buy it because of thinking that it would just be a waste of money and they don't see any harm by using that cracked software, actually, it is not bad if for you if you don't have some important files on your computer but if you have then it is better to buy a safe and legit software. What would be the money if you are having secured software that will keep your important data safe? It is also really dangerous if you have many crypto transactions on your computer.

Here are some reasons (https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/security-reasons-dont-download-cracked-software/amp/)why you should avoid downloading a cracked software:
1. It can cause malware infections- Downloading illegal software can cause malware infection, the malware inside the cracked software can steal the important information on your device and the worst thing is that it can cause of having more malware.
2. You have to visit dodgy websites - Whenever you download cracked software, you will visit first cracking website, and by doing that it is already against the law so they have a little incentive not to harm users.
3. The software may not work - Downloading cracked software has no guarantee that it will work, there are also some instances that it will work at first, and eventually, it will stop. There is also no update for cracked software so it means you cant use any new features and security concerns.
4. It could lead to legal problems - We are also aware that downloading a cracked software is illegal and against the law, so the one you are caught using it, you face consequences.
5. You Could Infect Other Devices On Your Network - The worst thing that you can have of having cracked software is that your other devices on your network will be affected as well, once you connect your computer that has a cracked software and you connect it on some other devices, the virus can spread on that device as well.

Pirated software is something that is very widespread in the world, and even in those countries that have a very good standard, a very large percentage of computers have pirated software. This is of course a very dangerous vector of attack for anyone who uses the internet, and especially for those who are in any way connected with cryptocurrencies.

Although today original licenses can be found in the price range of $5- $10 for almost every AV and most commonly used software, people still reach for something that is free, but in the end it still costs much more than the original license.

Do yourself a big favor, buy an original license instead of infecting your computer - and you don't have to go beyond this forum to do that, visit Digital goods (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=93.0), but always check the seller Trust, and use escrow if necessary.

Actually I am not using any pirated/cracked version of OS or apps in any of my device for now, I just said I was a person like that in my past and I guess until my college days by that time I don't have much knowledge about the privacy and security stuffs.

This is a common cybercrime today which is the ransomware there are no specific victims with this even the higher names, business, government sectors, and even just normal people who are using their computer.
Most of the time they got this with the use of downloading into different websites and using a torrent. We didn't know that there is a virus inside this file.

So what you gonna do if you already experience this kind of scenario?
1. Don't entertain the hackers most of them are asking money and if you give it to them they probably seek for more.
2. If you do not have important files. Reformat.
3. Always save into cloud storage to avoid this kind of incident again.

This is pretty much what I do as well. Though my way is that, I ask for the file from a friend who has it for a long time already. Glad I could get it for free 'cause if it's someone else, he'd surely ask for a payment.

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I know right. Ever since I had a laptop of my own, I didn't bother to activate my MS apps. As long as I can use it with the necessary tools in it, I'm fine. Downloading files I'm not sure of from the internet is something I avoid. Virus and malwares could be in any form now. Better safe than sorry.

That is true, installing cracked software on your device can cause of having malware and it can steal some of your important data on your device, that is why every company and businesses do not use any cracked software, they buy it to avoid those things, they have much important information that they should keep only for their company and businesses and it would be a big problem if this would be stolen by other hackers just because of downloading it.  We should know how viruses can bring problems to our device so we should not let it in.

Businesses and companies should not definitely use any cracked or illegal software because it could cause a massive downfall on their business, and their data could be stolen instantly. I also used cracked software, and I know it's consequences such as ransomware, malware virus, etc. But I only used cracked software in my other PC, which I don't have any critical data on it, so I assume my funds are a little safe from those illegal softwares.

Well fortunate for you becase you have a spare pc to use but of course not all of us have a spare pc some people even struggles to have a pc for them so downloading legitimate softwares will be harder for them, if you really dont have money to buy software and you have good amount of very important information your going to put in your computer better to wait till you can buy yourself a copy of a legitimate software because its a invesment, your mind will always be at ease when it comes to viruses entering your pc.

I'm getting a little off-topic, but there are pretty much no escrows for digital goods. None of the reputable escrows want to hold those kind of things, escpecially activation keys. There's a legal liability issue for the escrow if the escrowed product key turns out to be stolen by the seller. I wasn't able to find an escrow for a gift card I was trying to sell there.

I would avoid buying from that board completely unless the seller has DT green trust or hundreds of earned merit, because 95% of the sellers there are scammers.

I used to use every single thing pirated, from os itself to apps and video games. As I got older, I realized it's better idea to buy genuine products — it supports developers and is good for my own safety.

The whole point is that people download the hacked versions, this is the unwillingness to pay the developer. But there is a good saying “there is always free cheese in a mousetrap”.

Having received such a program, a lot of troubles can fall on the user. In addition to the fact that in some countries there is responsibility for downloading pirated software, but the user's computer itself becomes very vulnerable. It is clear that the computer itself will be infected and all data will leak into the network And this applies not only to those who own the cryptocurrency. It is possible to perform all sorts of fraudulent actions with a computer that has viruses. And the owner will be responsible for the damage caused. If remote access is opened to the computer, then attackers will be able to use it for all their dirty purposes.

I’ve had completely opposite experiences, but maybe I’ve just been lucky or know how to judge people well, so I’ve never had problems. You are probably right about escrow, apart from what you stated, no one wants to be an escrow for such small transactions. I would also disagree that 95% of sellers there are scammers, how many of them have honest intentions, and how many of them actually know what they are selling - some are just resellers of bad goods, without even being aware of it.

Definitely agree with you OP.

Of course it isn't worth using a nulled version of some scripts just to get hacked by hacker who nulled the license later.
There's a ton of stories like that and the person who got nulled script always regrets not buying a licensed copy.

I'm gonna bump this thread because a new malware has pop up, called MosaicLoader.

New MosaicLoader malware targets software pirates via online ads (https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/new-mosaicloader-malware-targets-software-pirates-via-online-ads/).


Again, just a reminder for everyone, not just for beginners but also for the most experience crypto users out there.