Can game cracks bring ransomwares to my PC?

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scaredluc
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Can game cracks bring ransomwares to my PC?

Post by scaredluc » Mon Jun 26, 2017 1:31 am

Hey!
I am using a pirated Windows 8.1 and I have installed several cracked games. Some of those cracks caused warning from Anti virus softwares, but I ignored them and was able to play. The recent wannacry incident made me think more than twice before installing such games.
Also, I happened to view this video about Malwares ( http://www.storagepipe.com/blog/DDoS-Bi ... e-Malware/ ) and ever since I can't install any games thinking it may cause a malware attack. I don't have a backup facility and thus can't afford to lose data. How can I ensure that my system is safe from malware and how can I ensure games and apps are being installed safely without causing any trouble?

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Cool_Fire
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Re: Can game cracks bring ransomwares to my PC?

Post by Cool_Fire » Mon Jun 26, 2017 3:05 am

The single best piece of advice I can give you is to figure out a way to make some backups. Even if you just copy your most important stuff over to a USB flash drive once a week or make a deal with a friend to keep some backups for eachother.
In short, there's very good reasons that even big businesses with really good security still keep backups and all of those reasons can happen to you.

As for the specific example of ransomware in game cracks; As far as I know it has not happened yet. However there is no technical reason it cannot and it probably will happen sooner or later.

Apart from ransomware there is all softs of other malware that has been attached to game cracks for years now so it's always a big risk to use them.

On the defense side, a good antivirus solution and not ignoring the warnings it gives you is proably a good idea and will catch most of the common stuff but keep in mind that no antivirus software catches 100% of all malware.
It's also a good idea to keep your browser and windows install up to date with the latest security patches but you can get hit with something that doesn't have a security patch released for it yet.

Long story short: There is no way to make 100% sure you are safe. This is why you need a backup.
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