New Report Reveals Why You Should Never Download Cracked And Pirated Software

If the term pirated software doesn’t raise an alarm or if you’re guilty of the practice and find nothing wrong, well, here’s a report that warrants your attention.

While we feel there shouldn’t be any justification related to why a user should steer clear of illegal practices, here’s some research that clearly explains the matter in the fine print.

Be it pirated software, activators, or simply a few cracks- you just might end up with something referred to as an infostealer. And trust us when we say it’s as alarming as it sounds.

Thanks to experts hailing from Zscaler, we’ve got news related to a recently published research related to finding anonymous threat actors. The experts were able to analyze a few malware distribution campaigns in detail.

These researchers found how websites ended up being present at the top of Google’s SERP in terms of popular queries related to the software world. Common examples included the likes of 7-Data Recovery Suite, a few other programs, and even Adobe Acrobat Pro.


Many webpages related to .com domains or even those seen on less popular platforms end up hosting many of these programs, activators, and even cracks or even any other small thing needed to attain a particular commercial.

What’s interesting is that the major problem lies with how victims end up downloading across various endpoints things that are harmful. Moreover, they’re not even aware of it because they believe they’ve not signed up for it.

The infostealer malware is behind it all, dangerously taking part in the worst form of cybercrime imaginable. From fraud and password stealing to taking advantage of users’ sensitive payment details too, you’ve named it and they’re up to it. Did we mention taking screengrabs as well?

Most of the infostealers appear like RecordBreaker, RedLine Stealer, or more. And if you want nothing to do with them, well, simply don’t install pirated software. Yes, it’s as simple as that because it comes for free with them.

The same goes for installing cracks, activators, or things of a similar sort.

At the same time, users carry the capability of protecting endpoints with antivirus installations or protective actions against malware too like firewalls. Yes, they go a long way.

Experts also feel one great way to find protection is through two-factor authentications across several different accounts or as many as you can handle. These really make it hard for such threatening actors to cross barriers and come into play, even if login credentials are taken over.

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