Simple Introduction to Cracked Applications
An application is a kind of software that allows you to complete a task on your computer or the hardware. Every day, we use many necessary applications, such as Word, Browser, and even Operating Systems like Windows, Linux, Mac, etc.
However, many of these must-have applications are not free of cost. Some of the paid-for popular applications are Windows OS, MS Word, etc. Windows 10 costs anywhere from $130-$400 depending on the version of it. But not every person can afford them.
Therefore, to make those applications run on your computer without asking you to purchase it, or unlock the premium features of it that are available only with the paid version, some programmers modify them in a way that doesn’t ask for money anymore. This is called ‘cracking.’
Common Hazards of Cracked software
Crackers have been cracking applications ever since those were started to be created. Until now, most of our required applications (e.g. Windows, word) have been cracked. Not only the must-have applications but even many popular games are cracked as well.
But they usually are not cracked honestly. The cracker who cracks it often adds malware to the crack, which infects the computer, harming its system and files. It is a very common risk of cracked applications.
Whoever installs a cracked application, knows of the risk beforehand and takes cautions accordingly. A basic caution can be doing virus scans after the crack has been installed, or restarting the computer so that the malware stops.
The recently discovered hazard of Cracked Applications
Until now, we were talking about the common hazard of cracked applications, which is malware. But researchers have discovered something even more dangerous, that can cost you even hundreds of dollars.
The new risk is still malware! But it is a particular kind of malware and is called ‘trojan’ or ‘trojan horse.’ It steals the private data of your computer, such as your login credentials or credit card details, files, cookies, etc., and then uploads the data to a server.
Researchers claim that this is a campaign of a community of hackers, who spread their trojan through the cracked applications. And they also said that the crackers of some popular applications and games helped the hackers by adding their trojan to their cracks.
The stolen data by the trojan was being uploaded to the hacker’s database, which somehow got exposed. That database contained credentials from millions of computers, which were stolen between 2018-2020.
Researchers also say that the trojan also took screenshots of the victim’s computers, which proves that the trojan spread from cracked software like cracked Adobe Photoshop, Windows cracking tools, and pirated games.
But why the antiviruses of those victims couldn’t detect it? It is because antiviruses cannot detect new malware overnight. It takes time for the antivirus to store its sample in the virus database. And this amount of time is enough for the malware to steal the data.
How can you be safe from it?
Firstly, researchers say that it stole files only from the Desktop and the Downloads folder. So as a precaution, you can move all of your necessary files from the Desktop and the Downloads folder to somewhere else.
Secondly, it stole passwords. For that, you can remove all of your passwords from your browsers and save them somewhere else in a note file. Or, you can use third-party cloud password managers like NordLocker.
It is also strongly recommended to change all of your passwords for all of your accounts since you don’t know whether yours were hacked or not. But if you never saved your passwords in your browser, then there is no need to do so.
And as for the cookies, there isn’t really much you can do. Cookies are an essential part of websites. Some of its functionalities may not work without cookies. For instance, logging into a site. So you should take care of your passwords and files first, without worrying about cookies.
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