Software Piracy and Cracking Essay Example

which violates the license agreement. This includes sharing software with acquaintances or colleagues and installing it on personal or portable computers without permission from the license provider. Soft lifting is often seen in corporate settings and can be easily recognized.

Unrestricted Client

Copying a software program onto an organization's servers and allowing the organization's network "clients" to freely access the software is known as unrestricted client access piracy. This act violates the terms of the license agreement, especially if the organization only has a license for installation on a single computer instead of a client-server license that allows multiple users to access the software simultaneously. Another violation occurs when an organization has a client-server license but fails to enforce user restrictions outlined in the license, such as limiting the number of concurrent users. Unrestricted client access piracy is similar to soft lifting, as it exceeds the authorized number of users granted by the software license. However, in this case, the software is loaded on the company's server instead of individual machines, allowing clients to access it through the organization's network.

3. Hard-disk Loading

Selling computers with unauthorized copies of software already installed is known as hard-disk loading.

Often, vendors offer preloaded software as an incentive to purchase certain hardware. When buying or renting computers with preloaded software, it is important to ensure that the purchase documentation and contract with the vendor specify which software is preloaded and assure that these are legal and licensed copies. If the vendor is unwilling to provide proper documentation, it is advised to avoid dealing with them.

4. OEM Piracy

Some software, known as OEM (original equipment

manufacturer) software, is legally sold only with specified hardware.

When software programs are copied and sold separately from the hardware, it violates the distribution contract between the vendor and the software publisher. In the same way, "unbundling" refers to selling software separately that is legally sold only when bundled with another package. Software programs labeled as "not for resale" are typically bundled applications.

5. Commercial Use of Noncommercial

Using educational or other commercial-use-restricted software in violation of the software license constitutes software piracy.

Specialized non-commercial software is often sold by software companies for specific audiences, such as educational institutions like public schools and universities. These institutions are targeted with educational versions of the software, which are offered at reduced prices to acknowledge their educational purpose.

However, acquiring and using non-commercial software not only harms the software publisher but also has a negative impact on the intended recipient institution. Counterfeiting is a common issue related to software piracy, where unauthorized copies of the software are duplicated and sold as legitimate copies produced or approved by the legal publisher.

Many counterfeit software products can be found at discounted prices during non-trade computer shows. The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) states that approximately half of all software sales at computer shows in the United States involve counterfeit software.

An additional form of piracy is CD-R piracy, which involves illegally copying software using CD-R recording technology. This occurs when individuals obtain a copy of a software program and make copies to distribute among friends or for resale purposes. Although CD-R piracy and counterfeiting share similarities, they also have distinct differences. Unlike counterfeiting, CD-R piracy does not involve passing off the illegal copy as genuine. Furthermore,

the copied CD-R may lack documentation or professionally printed labels.

With the decrease in price of CD recording equipment, the software industry is facing a rise in end-user piracy. In the past, "compilation CDs" containing illegal software applications were sold for $400-$500. However, the availability of CD-R's has caused the price to drop to $20, increasing the accessibility of illegal software.

8. Internet Piracy

Internet piracy refers to the uploading of commercial software (i.

Internet piracy is the act of making copyrighted software available online for others to copy. This includes copying commercial software from these services and selling pirated software on the internet through various platforms such as auction sites, instant messaging, internet relay chat, or warez sites.

There has been an increase in Internet piracy recently, which will be further discussed below.

9. Manufacturing

CD manufacturing plants are given permission by software publishers to duplicate their software onto CD-ROMs. These CD-ROMs are then distributed to authorized vendors for resale. Plant piracy occurs when the plant surpasses the allowed number of software copies and sells these unauthorized duplicates. Additionally, piracy happens when the plant disregards the publisher's instruction to destroy unsold CDs and instead resells them.

While most plants appear to be compliant, and there are compliance procedures in place, there have been several instances of these forms of piracy.

10. Renting

Renting software for temporary use, like you would a movie, was made illegal in the United States by the Software Rental Amendments Act of 1990 and in Canada by a 1993 amendment to the Copyright Act. As a result, rental of software is rare. The ten types of piracy identified above are not mutually exclusive.

There is often overlap between different types of

piracy, such as OEM counterfeiting that the SIIA has encountered. OEM counterfeiting involves unbundling OEM software to resell it. The pirate not only sells the OEM software, but also creates illegal copies of it to sell as counterfeits.

The term "Crack" refers to anything that allows a software user to bypass the limitations imposed by shareware. A Crack can be an executable file, an encrypted key file, a Windows Registry file, or even a basic text file containing a serial number or user instructions.

The act of cracking involves attempting to eliminate the copy protections that are embedded in software programs. A key-gen or key generator is a tool that utilizes a serial number or CD key-generating algorithm to produce counterfeit but still legitimate serial numbers and CD keys. An example of a website offering these technologies is displayed as follows: Some of the protections that get eliminated consist of: Time limits - an instance being a 30-day trial duration wherein the program stops functioning afterwards. Nag Screen - a visual element that pops up at predetermined intervals, prompting the user to register the software. Serial Number - the utilization of an assigned number that is essential for the program to operate.

A Crack commonly appears as an .exe file, acquired from a software company for bug fixes or extra features. It modifies the main .exe file or multiple .dll files of the application.

Cracking the Code: Exploring Different Approaches

When it comes to bypassing software program protections, there are multiple techniques available. In this discussion, we will focus on two commonly used methods. The first approach involves using Wdasm 8.9 to disassemble the target program's (.exe) file. This

process reveals the program's source code in assembly language (ASM). Although Wdasm 8.9 may not directly expose the actual serial or registration number, it does uncover the specific locations within the code where the software protections exist. Once these locations are identified, disabling these protections becomes relatively simple, allowing users to register the program by entering incorrect or no information.

The software's vulnerability to exploitation by Crackers arises from its reliance on calling Win32 API functions, particularly GetWindowTextA and LstrCmpA. These functions play a crucial role in comparing or generating the registration code needed for program activation, after a user provides their Name and Registration Code or Serial Number in a dialog box. By utilizing NuMega's Soft-ice debugger, Crackers can easily set breakpoints on these functions to identify their memory location. With this information, Crackers can then use Soft-ice to display the data stored in that specific segment of memory. Unsurprisingly, the displayed information often turns out to be the correct registration code or serial number.

How do these methods operate? It goes as follows: Serials (serial number) - someone, somewhere, acquired a software license by means of a purchased serial number. This serial number was either exposed on the Internet or stolen from a computer. It may have also been generated artificially using a key generator (serial number creator) and subsequently leaked online. Keygens - a small standalone application used to produce a serial number.

Typically, the keygen is developed by a software developer, hobbyist, or hacker to generate a specific format of a serial number for the program they are attempting to crack. Cracks refer to modified programs used to bypass activation or legitimacy

verification. Usually, the original software includes a single executable file that is reverse engineered and altered.

The executable (exe) file is commonly substituted for the original home file. Cracked software circumvents time restrictions and limited functionality in demos. Any of these approaches can enable a previously locked, expired, or feature-limited application to become fully functional. These cracks can be found in numerous places, but they entail certain risks. Some cracks serve as conduits for spyware and viruses. Conversely, some cracks are created without any malice towards the user; they merely enable the utilization of the software.

The act of cracking software causes harm to software developers and results in financial losses from every piece of cracked software. Here is a compilation of tools commonly used in the process of cracking: Hex Editor – primarily used for patching disassembled code. Wdasm 8.9 – a shareware disassembler that also features a debugger. IDA Pro 3.

7 - Interactive disassembler. Many lawsuits have arisen regarding the cracking of software, but most of these cases are focused on distributing illegal products rather than the act of undermining their protection. This is because it is difficult to provide legally valid evidence of individual responsibility for the latter situation. In the United States, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) made software cracking and sharing information that aids in it a criminal offense. However, there have been few challenges to this law in U.S. courts when reverse engineering is performed solely for personal purposes.

In May 2001, the European Union implemented the European Union Copyright Directive, which declares software copyright infringement as illegal in member states once national laws align with the directive. The history of

software copy protection dates back to early Apple II and Commodore 64 software, where game publishers engaged in battles against software crackers. Nowadays, publishers have resorted to more intricate countermeasures like StarForce to prevent unauthorized copying of their software.

The Apple II DOS had a unique way of managing device communications and interpreting raw data. Unlike modern computers, it controlled the floppy drive head's step motor directly and interpreted the raw data, known as nibbles, to locate data sectors on each track. This allowed for complex copy protection by storing data on half-tracks and various combinations. Spiral tracking, where sectors were staggered across overlapping offset tracks, was the most extreme version of this. Interestingly, it was discovered that some floppy drives had no upper limit to head movement and could potentially have an additional 36th track. However, the standard Apple II DOS copy programs could not read protected floppy disks since they assumed all disks had a uniform layout of 35 tracks with 13 or 16 sectors.

Special programs like Locksmith and Copy II Plus were able to duplicate protected disks by using a library of known protection methods. However, when these protected programs were cracked, they would be stripped of their copy protection and transferred onto a standard DOS disk that any normal Apple II DOS copy program could read. In the early days, many software crackers were computer enthusiasts who formed competing groups to crack and spread software. The goal was to break new copy protection schemes as quickly as possible, not necessarily for monetary gain but to demonstrate technical superiority. As a way to advertise their skills, cracker groups in the 1980's attached animated

screens called crack intros to the software programs they cracked and released.

Once the technical competition expanded from cracking challenges to creating visually stunning intros, the demoscene subculture emerged. Demoscene started separating itself from the illegal "warez scene" in the 1990s and is now recognized as a distinct subculture. Many software crackers have become skilled software reverse engineers. Their deep assembly knowledge enables them to reverse engineer drivers in order to port them from binary-only drivers for Windows to drivers with source code for Linux and other Free operating systems. Software crackers have secretive organizations on the Internet, along with detector, legal, and other specialists.
In response, Apple Computer has incorporated a Trusted Platform Module into their Macintosh computers and utilizes it in applications like Rosetta. Rosetta is a PowerPC binary translator that allows non-x86 parts of the operating system to run properly. The Trusted Platform Module is necessary for its operation.

(This description applies to the developer preview version, but the mechanism differs in the release version. Recently, the OSx86 project has been releasing patches to circumvent this mechanism. Microsoft is planning to reduce common Windows based software cracking with the release of the NGSCB initiative in future versions of their operating system.) The effects of software piracy can be seen in the release of fully operable proprietary software without any copy protection. Software companies, represented by the Business Software Alliance, estimate and claim losses due to piracy. Cracking has also played a significant role in the success of companies like Adobe Systems and Microsoft, both of whom have benefitted from piracy since the 1980s.

A large number of college and high school students quickly adopted applications

from these companies, some of which they later purchased legitimate licenses for in their professional lives. They also introduced the software to others, leading to its widespread use. The profitability of the software industry is directly impacted by the losses caused by software piracy. As a result of the financial implications of piracy, publishers have limited resources for research and development, have less revenue to justify reducing software prices, and must pass on these costs to customers. Consequently, software publishers, developers, and vendors are taking significant measures to safeguard their revenues.

Using pirated software is a risky endeavor, not only due to legal consequences but also because users and organizations miss out on practical benefits. Those who resort to pirate software face various drawbacks:

• They increase the likelihood of software malfunction or complete failure;
• They forfeit access to customer support, upgrades, technical documentation, training, and bug fixes;
• They lack warranty protection;
• They heighten the risk of being infected by a destructive virus that can cause data loss;
• They might discover that the software is outdated, a beta version, or non-functional;
• They are at risk of significant fines for copyright infringement;
• They expose themselves to potential negative publicity and public embarrassment.

Hazards arise from the potential legal repercussions, leading creators of cracks for commercially available software to stay anonymous. This anonymity often leads to a lack of comprehensive documentation. As a result, most individuals are unable to determine the exact actions that the crack will perform. For instance, certain spyware removal utilities consider certain cracks as having a malicious payload, like a hidden DDOS daemon.[citation needed] It is possible for

certain software protection techniques to incorporate covert measures against cracking. These measures do not hinder the functioning of the cracked program initially but can potentially cause permanent harm to data generated and utilized with the cracked program.

An example can illustrate this concept, such as an expensive engineering software that requires a dongle for operation. This software is purposely designed to include minor math errors and design flaws in all documents. The dongle, however, contains specific dimensional metrics to negate these intentional data errors. Once the software is cracked, the corrective metrics are no longer accessible. With time, as documents are edited using the cracked software, object dimensions become distorted and the document becomes unusable. The company may offer a solution to undo the damage, but it requires the payment of a fee for correction and obtaining a properly licensed, uncracked version of the program. It is important to avoid downloading pirated software or patches from the internet as they often contain harmful elements. If you are unable to afford the desired software, it is recommended to contact the author and explain your situation.

There is a high possibility of receiving a discount or obtaining the software without charge. The majority of hackers will incorporate their own custom-made trojans, which tend to go unnoticed by antivirus programs. Numerous cracked versions also come with spyware. These trojans enable the hacker to gain entry into your computer. If you utilize your computer for credit card transactions or online banking, the hacker will gain access to your passwords and PIN codes, using your credit card or bank account for unauthorized purchases. The spyware has the capability to disrupt various functions

on your computer.

Using serials can render your browser inoperable and pose a high risk of virus contamination. Despite the misconception that they are more secure since no installation is required, web pages hosting serials are actually hazardous.

Many of these web pages take advantage of security vulnerabilities in your browser and can automatically install trojans, spyware, and viruses on your computer just by visiting them. Simply searching online for web pages with serials can be detrimental to your computer, potentially granting hackers access to your credit card information and installing spyware that monitors your activities. It's better to be safe than sorry, so always purchase genuine software. Avoiding pirated software reduces the risk of viruses, spyware, adware, and other malicious threats. To protect yourself and your organization, follow these guidelines:
- Make sure all new software is accompanied by a license agreement, original disks, and authentic packaging.
- Retain the original receipt and invoice as proof of purchase.

•It is important to always register your product.
•Do not purchase software labeled "Education Version" or "Education" unless you are a faculty member or student of an accredited educational institution that has an agreement with Adobe.
•If you are eligible for educational software, buy it from an Adobe Education Authorized Reseller.
•Do not buy software labeled "For Bundles Only" without the appropriate hardware.
•Avoid purchasing individual software titles that were originally part of a "Collection."
•Carefully read the End User License Agreement before making any purchase.
•Only purchase downloadable software from the Adobe Store as it is the authorized way to do so.
•Beware of counterfeit Adobe software offered on CD-R.
•If the product has a self-adhesive label on the top face of the CD, it is not

genuine.
•Be cautious of phrases like "for backup purposes only," "cannot be registered," or "for educational purposes only."
•If the software has already been registered and there is no transfer of ownership provided, using or registering it would be illegal.
•To verify the authenticity of serial numbers or for any other questions or concerns, reach out to Adobe.
•Pirates will say anything to sell you illegal software.

To avoid pirated products, it is recommended to purchase from authorized, reputable resellers. When someone tries to sell you something they clearly do not have the rights to sell, it raises concerns about the safety of your personal and financial information. Be cautious of the following online threats:

• Phishing and spoofing
• Spam e-mail Phishing and spoofing refers to the illegal practice of deceiving consumers into providing personal information that can be used for identity theft and other illegal activities.

Spoofing is a common technique used in phishing scams. While it is relatively easy to identify spam e-mails, spoof e-mails are more difficult to detect. These e-mails claim to be from reputable companies with whom you may have business dealings, and they direct you to websites where you are asked to provide personal information such as your name, address, account numbers, etc.

Beware: any information you provide can be exploited by criminals. One way to identify fake emails is through their generic greetings, which are typically different from what you would expect from a company that already possesses your personal data. These fraudulent emails often claim that your information has been compromised, your account has been frozen, or that you need

to verify the authenticity of your transactions. They may also redirect you to counterfeit websites that are deceptively designed to appear genuine, but are in fact collecting personal information for illegal purposes. Some deceitful emails even include links to legitimate websites in an attempt to make them seem more authentic.

Regardless, it is important to never disclose personal information when prompted by an unsolicited email. Nowadays, no reputable business would follow such a practice. To avoid falling for phishing scams, it is advisable to always call the company directly whenever you receive an unexpected email asking for personal information, in order to verify the legitimacy of the request. It is never recommended to trust the phone number provided in the email as a means of confirming its authenticity. Instead, make use of the contact numbers available in your own personal records or consult the phone book.

While some e-mails may appear to be from a trusted source, it is important to be cautious as the name and address in the From field can be easily altered. It is advised not to provide personal information based on unsolicited e-mails, even if the linked website looks authentic. The amount of spam e-mails received daily is significant, and it is worth examining their content. Surprisingly, a large number of these spam e-mails offer seemingly genuine software at extremely low prices, which are ultimately too good to be true. It is important to understand the risks involved in responding to spam e-mails.

Unscrupulous criminals abound on the internet, seeking to take advantage of unsuspecting victims. These nefarious individuals include online retailers who misuse credit card details, phishers who deceive people into divulging

personal information, and software pirates who sell incomplete or virus-infected software. To prevent falling victim to their schemes, Adobe advises against responding to spam emails offering software for sale. Additionally, exercise caution when purchasing software shipped from overseas to the United States and when confronted with offers requiring wire transfers to foreign banks.

Before providing credit card information to a website, it is important to verify its security credentials to prevent potential identity theft. While auction sites can offer exciting and unique items, caution should be exercised when purchasing software from these platforms. Although most users on auction sites are honest and legitimate, there is a high level of risk involved. Here are some guidelines to follow when buying from auction sites: Trust your instincts and be skeptical of offers that seem too good to be true. Always compare the price with that from a reputable retailer.

If the seller is trying to sell pirated or illegal software, there may be a significant difference. It is important to do your research. Review the feedback section on the auction site to find comments about the seller's previous transactions. Look for a trust mark from a reputable organization such as BBBOnLine, indicating that the merchant follows a code of business practices. Additionally, obtain the seller's address, phone number, or URL to check for a Reliability Report on the Better Business Bureau org website (look for the "Check It Out" box and click on "Business"). Be cautious of backups.

When purchasing software, it is important to be cautious of sellers who offer "backup copies" as this typically indicates that the software is not legally licensed. Ensure that the software is authentic

and be wary of products that do not come with proof of authenticity, such as original disks, manuals, licenses, warranties, etc.

Genuine Adobe software CDs are identifiable by their silk-screened artwork displaying trademarks, patent information, and part numbers. It should be noted that Adobe has never shipped software on CD-R. Any CD with a self-adhesive label on its top face is not considered authentic. In the event that you receive a non-authentic product, it is advisable to request a refund and leave negative feedback for the seller.

Ensure that the software is transferable before purchasing. If the license holder is unable to provide a transfer of ownership, do not buy the software as you will not have legal authorization to use or register it.