Beware FS2002 add-on "cracks"

[John_Cillis 2,406]

On Saturday I was emailed by a Landclass Assistant user, who asked why a "crack" to my program was appearing on Morpheus and WinMX (among the more popular file sharing programs). First, Landclass Assistant and Autoland 2002, both of which are hosted on this site, are both freeware. No "crack" is needed for either....I did some research, installed WinMX, and did a search. Sure enough, I found a user by an odd name of "revengeandfear666" hosting a LC Assistant "crack." WinMX allows one to browse all files hosted by a user (i.e. pirate or hacker), and sure enough, the user had 100's of "cracks", all with the same byte count, and all matching the byte count of one of the more popular backdoor trojans.So, once again--my proggies don't require cracks, and if you seek out such things, you may be allowing someone full control of your system to run D.O.S. attacks or programs of their choice on your system. I sent a nastygram to "revengeandfear666" and haven't seen a user by that name surface since, but this sounds like a scam which will hit those who look for things without paying and/or choose unconventional means of obtaining freeware.... I've always suggested people shy away from file sharing programs, even for sharing legitimate freeware files. I understand some do it to get around bandwidth issues on generic email accounts like hotmail and the like, but you're playing with fire...Just a word of caution....

[Guest]

Hi John,While I don't agree with your classifying the whole range of P2P network users as pirates or hackers, and don't share your belief that all P2P networks are "fire" exactly, I do fully agree with you in this case. Indeed, just like with anything online, all users must be viligant. The same can be said for email, usenet, web and ftp sites, irc channels, etc. The world is full of the best and the worst of us - diligance is the only answer.I'm sorry to hear of this particular instance since it involves you. I'd get his IP number and report him to his ISP in this case if I were you.Good luck fighting the jerk,Elrondhttp://members.rogers.com/eelvish/Boycott-RIAA.gif]"A musician without the RIAA, is like a fish without a bicycle."[/font://http://members.rogers.com/eelvish/B...cle."[/b][/font

[John_Cillis 2,406]

"I'd get his IP number and report him to his ISP in this case if I were you"Being somewhat unfamiliar with WinMX, I found some information, but none of it traced back to his IP number. I don't know that WinMX allows that--have a feeling it protects the anonymity of the people who trade files there. I agree that not everyone on these services is a pirate. As I mentioned, I know some seek freeware titles there and/or host them. Certainly easier than publishing a web page to host a title. But at least I've put myself on record that I don't distribute my work this way. It was odd that there were 100's of titles on his HD, most of them FS related. Almost like he had run some type of 'bot to capture the titles.... Some of the programs listed were Abacus titles, and I saw a Dreamfleet title as well. But none of them the real thing, as far as I can tell--all were the same byte count (14K). -John

[Guest]

If you can find him online again at some point, make sure you have a good firewall installed such as Outpost. With Outpost, any connections made on your system show all the information you need to track someone down on a P2P (including an automatic reverse DNS lookup if desired - but it'd be better to traceroute once you have the IP). Simply start downloading something from him then bring up Outpost - his IP will be plainly visible. Its basically like running an FTP server once a connection with a particular P2P user is made.There are specific tools you could do this with as well, but its just much easier with a good firewall like Outpost.Good luck,Elrondhttp://members.rogers.com/eelvish/Boycott-RIAA.gif]"A musician without the RIAA, is like a fish without a bicycle."[/font://http://members.rogers.com/eelvish/B...cle."[/b][/font

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Is Outpost freeware by chance? I don't have the resources to fight him head on, but since the hacker is using Abacus and other publishers in some of his "cracks", I can alert them and provide the I.P. info... I really suspect this is an offshore scam of some type--the specific byte count matched a trojan that originated somewhere in Eastern Europe. After doing some research just using the keyword "Abacus", I've found about half a dozen users on WinMX with the same "crack" titles, but with different byte counts. Haven't seen Landclass Assistant again in my searches...

[Guest]

Yes it is... Well, there's a free version and a paid version. The free version is almost identical... The main feature it is missing is the ability to work with Internet Connection Sharing on Windows if you share your net between a few home computers. If not, the free version should do you perfectly. Here's the addy:http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpost/index.htmlSending the info to Abacus is a great idea... I'm sure they'd love to hear it.Take care,Elrondhttp://members.rogers.com/eelvish/Boycott-RIAA.gif]"A musician without the RIAA, is like a fish without a bicycle."[/font://http://members.rogers.com/eelvish/B...cle."[/b][/font

[Guest]

You shouldn't have warned at all.If people want cracks, they deserve to get virusses and trojans.Down with software piracy!

[John_Cillis 2,406]

"You shouldn't have warned at all.If people want cracks, they deserve to get virusses and trojans.Down with software piracy!"Since my program was one represented as a "crack", I somewhat disagree. If I catch anyone doing this and I can trace them, and they are in a country with cooperative law enforcement, I plan on prosecuting them. Hosting trojans is a crime, worse than any piracy I can think of. Nothing prevents these ********s from hosting freeware disguised as trojans. From your response, it sounds like you condone this. If I were in the shoes of anyone behind this, I'd better not get caught doing it...