Microsoft files 52 suits over pirated software
Microsoft is ramping up its fight against counterfeit software, this time targeting people alleged to have sold pirated versions of its programs on online marketplaces.
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14.12.2007 Windows 7 Already Pirated, Not Even Out
Just came back from our usual family weekend outing when I chanced upon a stall in one of the supermarkets here in the Philippines.
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2.3.2009 Pirated Windows 7 Just $3
Windows 7 might officially be just two days away from becoming available for purchase to customers worldwide, but fact is that the operating system is already available for free, almost free, or at a reduced price compared to what Microsoft is charging for the product.
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20.10.2009 Windows Vista crack is actually a trojan?
Malware makers are starting to take advantage of the number of users searching for cracks for the pirated copies of Vista floating around.
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4.12.2006 E-Mail About Windows Live Messenger Really A Trojan
Helsinki-based F-Secure told users to ignore instant messages with the subject head "MSN Messenger 8 Working BETA" that go on to claim that "Messenger 8 BETA has been leaked!"
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28.12.2005 Trojan poses as Windows screen to collect data
Symantec has warned of a Trojan that has posed as a Windows activation program and duped users into entering credit card information.
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7.5.2007 Leaked Windows 7 RC torrents infected with trojan
Various torrents of the Windows 7 RC have been infected with a trojan that, if allowed to run successfully, could open a security hole in a user’s system.
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29.4.2009 Does Microsoft Actually Want Windows Vista SP1 to Be Pirated?
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is currently in its final stages of development in Redmond Utero, and heading for the first release candidate stage.
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6.12.2007 Trojan Remover 6.5.8
Trojan Remover was written to aid in the removal of Trojan Horses and Internet Worms when standard anti-virus software has either failed to detect the problem or is unable to effectively eliminate it.
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6.3.2007 Trojan Remover 6.6.1
Trojan Remover aids in the removal of Malware - Trojan Horses, Worms, Adware, Spyware - when standard anti-virus software either fails to detect them or fails to effectively eliminate them. Standard antivirus programs are good at detecting this Malware, but not always so good at effectively removing it.
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20.6.2007 22% of Windows Installs Pirated, 2.6Million of that Genuine?
Microsoft's anti-piracy tool, aka Windows Genuine Advantage, launched in 30 months ago in 2005. Since then, 512 million have tried to validate their copy of Windows and 114 million users, or 22.3%, were labeled by Microsoft as pirates.
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24.1.2007 Why buy a genuine Windows Vista when pirated is easier and better?
Recently Microsoft had a 50% price cut for Home Basic and Home Premium Editions of Windows Vista. The price cut is mainly targeted at China which has the 2nd highest software piracy rate in the world after Vietnam. Thanks to thepodest for this post on the blog.
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8.8.2007 Microsoft to Kill Pirated Windows XP Professional
Having dealt with the SoftMod Windows Vista activation crack, Microsoft will start hunting down and “killing” pirated copies of Windows XP Professional, the flavor of the operating system labeled by the company as most popular with pirates.
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25.3.2009 Fake Windows patch e-mail leads to Trojan horse attack
Messages insisting that users install a just-released Microsoft Corp. security update are bogus and actually lead to a site that plants malicious code on PCs, several security companies warned today.
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28.6.2007 Microsoft: Turn Pirated Windows Copies into Genuine Products!
Microsoft is providing users with the means to turn their pirated copies of Windows into genuine products. However, the offer is only available for Windows XP, and not for Windows Vista.
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2.10.2007 Trojan Demands Ransom from Victims
A new trojan is making its rounds on the Internet, freezing up victims' computers and then demanding a ransom be paid through Western Union. Called "ransomware," the viruses have been around in Russia for several months, but the first English variants appeared in March.
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27.4.2006 New MSN Messenger Trojan Spreading Quickly
An MSN Messenger Trojan is growing a botnet by hundreds of infected PCs per hour.
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19.11.2007 Pirated Vista may be useless, Microsoft says
Microsoft said supposedly pirated copies of its new Vista computer operating system "will be of limited value" to those who use them.
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15.11.2006 Half of pirated Vista is malware
Alleged "cracked" versions of Vista appearing on peer-to-peer networks often turn out to be Trojan horses. About half of the downloads claiming to be free versions of Microsoft's Vista operating system are actually malicious Trojan horse software, security vendor DriveSentry warned Thursday.
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26.1.2007 MS: Trojan Horses Increase 300 Percent
If your system gets hacked, chances are it will be from a Trojan. A Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) Security Intelligence report tabulated a 300 percent increase in the number of Trojan downloaders and droppers the last half of 2007 -- a trend which security experts say will continue to exponentially grow.
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24.4.2008 2 Year Old Pirated Keys Defeats WGA
On July 18, Microsoft's WGA team promised to send me a disk with a product key from their blocked list. It was supposed to arrive via overnight service, but it was never sent.
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9.8.2006 Why pirated Vista has Microsoft champing at the BitTorrent
As Microsoft Corp. gets ready to launch Windows Vista and Office 2007 to consumers, it claims a formidable new foe it lacked at its last major consumer software launch five years ago: the popular filesharing network known as BitTorrent. This third-generation peer-to-peer (P2P) service, already used by tens of millions of Internet users to swap digital music and movies for free, is becoming a popular mechanism for those looking to obtain pirated software.
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26.1.2007 Trojan Emits Bogus, Risqu? Google AdSense Ads
A Trojan horse program is churning out bogus Google ads promoting products Google eschews?gambling, cheap Viagra, girlie photos and adult dating.
The ads, being targeted at small publishers, are identical to Google AdSense ads except that referral graphic buttons are being converted to text, apparently due to a bug in the Trojan, according to the publisher who reportedly discovered the Trojan. That publisher, Raoul Bangera, told Techshout.com that the non-contextual and risqu? content of the ads are what set them apart from regular AdSense ads.
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1.1.2006 iWork '09 trojan infects 20,000 pirates
Karma, no matter what you do it will come back to bite you where it hurts the most. Up to 20,000 pirates who thought they would get away without paying for iWork '09 have learned that the hard way.
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23.1.2009 Is Microsoft working on software center for Windows?
Questions arise as to why Windows Vista and Windows 7 have renamed the "Add and Remove Programs" to "Programs and Features", alongside "Windows Updates".
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23.1.2009 Windows 7 Software Logo Toolkit Beta Available
The resources designed for developers to have their products labeled with the Compatible with Windows 7 logo have evolved into Beta stage.
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29.5.2009 Free Software Foundation trashes Windows 7
And that's exactly what the Free Software Foundation plans to do on Wednesday, staging a demonstration in Boston where it will encourage businesses to throw away Microsoft Windows in favor of free alternatives.
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27.8.2009 How to check software or hardware for Windows 7 compatibility
Microsoft has put up an extremely useful site that will allow you to check your software and hardware for Windows 7 compatibility.
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27.10.2009 Ultimate List of Free Windows Software from Microsoft
Microsoft has over 150 FREE Windows & Office Programs available for download -- finding them all is extremely difficult . . . until now.
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2.1.2007 New Windows Home Server Hardware and Software Partners
In his keynote address at the Microsoft® Windows® Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2007, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates today demonstrated Windows Home Server and announced new hardware partners for the upcoming product, which include Gateway Inc., LaCie and Medion International.
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15.5.2007Pirated Windows 7 Builds a Botnet With Trojan
Attackers pushing pirated, malware-laced copies of Windows 7 have been actively trying to build a botnet.
According to
researchers at Damballa, attackers hid a Trojan inside of pirated copies of the operating system and began circulating them on BitTorrent sites. The
company reported they shut down the botnet's command and control server May 10, however by that time infection rates had risen as high as 552 users
per hour.
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13.05.2009Mac Trojan hits pirated copies of Adobe Photoshop
Although Apple's Macintosh environment has long been touted by its fans as "more secure" than Windows, a Trojan enabling remote control of
Mac machines struck a second time this week.
Earlier found only in illegal copies of Apple's iWork Suite, the Trojan has now turned up in
pirated copies of Adobe Photoshop for Mac OS X. Actually, the Trojan doesn't even exploit any OS vulnerability. Instead, it disguises itself as part
of the installer package for the application, so it is installed along with the application. Once installed, the malware launches a back door program,
thereby allowing an attacker to remotely conduct misdeeds such as copying data.
A tool for detecting and removing specifically this Trojan is
now available from
SecureMac.com...
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29.01.2009Mobile Trojan Horse Trots Onto
PCs
Malicious software masquerades
as a pirated game that users
download from the Web...
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23.09.2005Half of Pirated Vista is Malware
According to security vendor
DriveSentry, about half of
downloads claiming to be free
versions of Microsoft Windows
Vista are in fact malicious
Trojan horses. With Vista's
consumer launch just days
away, discussion boards and
peer-to-peer networks are full
of offers of "cracked"
versions of Windows Vista. The
downloaded programs claim to
skip Vista's activation
process but are in fact
malicious key-logging software
and spyware. This isn't
anything new though, the same
deal occurred with Windows XP.
Pirated versions of Vista have
been in circulation for
several months now, and one
called "Windows Vista All
Versions Activation 21.11.06"
has already been identified as
a Trojan. It's an effective
technique, said John Lynch,
vice president of sales and
marketing for DriveSentry.
" Someone that's stealing
the software to begin with is
not going to raise a fuss if
the software turns out to be
malicious ."
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26.01.2007Potential pirates, not Vista, get cracked
35 days before Windows XP was
officially released, a pirated
key, called the "devils0wn",
began circulating around the
web which allowed users to run
a pirated copy of the
operating system. Since then,
the key has been used
thousands of times and is now
a part of Windows XP history.
Trying to follow in
devils0wn's footsteps, a new
crack for Windows Vista is
rumored to have become
available. Called "Windows
Vista All Versions Activation
21.11.06", the key reportedly
unlocks any version of Vista.
Sounds great for pirates,
right? Maybe it is, depending
where you stand on software
piracy.
Those who
download "Windows Vista All
Versions Activation 21.11.06"
will end up with anything but
a cracked version of Vista.
The file is neither a crack
nor key generator, but it is a
trojan installer that installs
the malware known as
"Trojan-PSW.Win32.LdPinch.aze
." According to APC Magazine,
most antivirus scanners will
recognize the trojan, but
NOD32 and Norton's latest
signatures do not.
While most of us dread the
thought of a new piece of
malware in the wild, it's
hard not to like the motive
behind this trojan.
Nevertheless, any propagation
of malware is a bad thing so
I'm happy to hear that most
scanners can stop this one.
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06.12.2006Report: 1 in 3 Software
Installs Pirated
Software piracy worldwide
increased five percent last
year, costing the industry
some $34 billion during 2005,
research firm IDC reported on
Tuesday. According to the
study, one out of every three
copies of software in 2005 was
pirated...
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24.05.2006Zbot trojan creators arrested in London
Police in London have arrested two people on suspicion that they created the ZeuS or Zbot trojan that infected many computers around the world. The
couple used the trojan for monetary gain but authorities did not disclose how much money was stolen. The trojan installed itself on victims computers
using social engineer techniques. Generally the trojan would mask itself as a reputable website such as a bank, credit card company or tax office to
get the victim to install the software. "Once installed, the Zbot Trojan injects itself into the victim's Web browser and monitors all
traffic.
Read full story.....
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19.11.2009Sony BMG accused of using pirated software
Small French software developer PointDev is suing Sony BMG saying it uses pirated copies of PointDev's Ideal Migration software...
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01.04.2008Microsoft Sues 26 Software
Pirates
Microsoft said late Monday
that it had filed 26 lawsuits
against dealers of pirated
software in seven states. The
companies are accused of
either offering pirated
material or installing it on
computers the defendants sold...
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18.07.2006Windows CE Trojan out in the wild, say researchers
US-CERT is warning of a Trojan that puts the users of Microsoft's mobile operating system at risk for data disclosure...
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27.02.2008Trojan, distributed over torrent, blocks torrent sites
A trojan named Troj/Qhost-AC, has been spotted on torrent sites labeled as a keygen for popular software. But in a strange surprise, the trojan would
modify the users host file, rather than generating a key, changing popular torrent web sites like, The Pirate Bay, Suprbay (The Pirate Bay forum) and
Mininova, the two most popular torrent sites on the internet to 127.0.0.1, making it impossible to visit these sites. The Trojan caused pop-ups on
users screens and played a sound file saying "downloading is wrong". The Trojan didn't install any other spyware or malware onto the victims
PC, other than blocking the three web sites, something that many users thought was strange.
Read full story.....
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06.01.2009Free Trojan Removal Tool for OS X Available Now
SecureMac has introduced a free Trojan Detection Tool for Mac OS X. The DNSChanger Removal Tool detects and removes spyware targeting Mac OS X. Called
DNSChanger Trojan and also known as OSX.RSPlug.A Trojan Horse the software attacks users attempting to play a fake video file. Upon attempting to play
the video, the victim receives the following message: "Quicktime Player is unable to play movie file. Please click here to download new version of
codec."
Read full story.....
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10.01.2008Trojan Hides Itself as Firefox
Extension
Security firm McAfee warned of
a new trojan that installs
itself as a Firefox extension
on Tuesday, saying it had
found Web sites linking to a
virus known as FormSpy. The
trojan captures personal
information and sends it to a
Web site...
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27.07.2006Symantec: Trojan has 400 banks on its hitlist
A Trojan dubbed Silentbanker targets more than 400 banks including the household names in the U.S. and other financial institutions abroad and hangs
in the background to intercept transactions with two-factor authentication, according to researchers at Symantec. In a day full of the usual Trojan
attacks (they all sort of look alike after awhile) the sheer versatility of Trojan.Silentbanker is notable.
Read full story.....
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15.01.2008Spanish Trojan Targets Online
Bankers
Antivirus firm Panda Software
warned Tuesday of a new trojan
called Nabload.U that has
begun to spread worldwide
through MSN Messenger and
attempts to obtain passwords
of Spanish-speaking online
banking users...
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27.12.2005Trade group lists top 10 pirated software
The Software & Information Industry Association released its annual Anti-Piracy year in review this week, noting that it reached its largest piracy
settlement yet in a case against Florida Benchmark – which was found using unlicensed software and ended up paying $150,000 – and its
first settlement through its Corporate Content Anti-Piracy Program.
Among other things, the SIIA also made a list of the titles most
pirated by companies and titles most pirated via the internet, much of which consisted of security tools from Symantec and productivity and design
tools from Adobe – makes you wonder if Adobe’s high price points have anything to do with them being a prime piracy target. Check out the
lists in full after the jump.
Read full
story.....
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27.02.2008Mac OS X Trojan reported in the wild
At least two Mac-focused security firms warned late this week of a Trojan horse that takes advantage of flaws in remote management software in Mac OS
X to run code on the affected computer...
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20.06.2008Russian Windows Trojan Discovered, May Point to Identity Theft Ring
The Atlanta-based security
services firm SecureWorks
discovered, by way of an
inquiry from one of its
Windows customers, what
appears to be a very
sophisticated Trojan horse
program that delivers users'
certificates and other
identifying data to a variety
of IP addresses based in
Russia...
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24.03.2007Pirate to pwned with Apple's iWork '09
File sharers picking up pirated copies of the newly released iWork '09 apps suite may be biting into a poisoned Apple. Various Mac-security sites and
sharing sites such as BitTorrent are reporting that some versions of the file are carrying a Trojan that can phone home and install additional
malware...
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23.01.2009Microsoft Says Pirated Software Invites Disaster
The more counterfeit software companies use in their networks, the greater their risk of encountering IT related problems, according to a new Harrison
Group study commissioned byMicrosoft. The study compared midmarket companies (defined as firms with between 24 and 500 PCs) in the U.S., U.K., China,
and Brazil that use fully licensed software with ones that have allowed pirated software to play a role in their operations, in a comparison not
unlike the 'Goofus And Gallant' cartoon of Highlights magazine fame.
In a Monday blog post, Alex Kochis, senior product manager in
the Windows Genuine Advantage group, said companies that use pirated software are more likely to encounter system failures that lead to data loss and
employee downtime. "The biggest difference between companies that are committed to using genuine software and those that aren't relates to loss
of sensitive data and critical system failures that impact more employees and customers," Kochis wrote.
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01.10.2008
