home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
The World of Computer Software
/
World_Of_Computer_Software-02-385-Vol-1of3.iso
/
s
/
swb928ti.zip
/
SECURE
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1992-12-01
|
4KB
|
65 lines
┌─────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─┐ ┌─┐ ┌──────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌────┐
│ ┌───┘ │ ┌───┘ │ ┌─┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ ┌──┐ │ │ ┌───┘ └──┐ └┐
│ └───┐ │ └─┐ │ │ └─┘ │ │ │ │ │ └──┘ │ │ └─┐ ┌┘ ┌┘
└───┐ │ │ ┌─┘ │ │ ┌─┐ │ │ │ │ │ ┌─┐ ┌┘ │ ┌─┘ └──┘
┌───┘ │ │ └───┐ │ └─┘ │ │ └─┘ │ │ │ │ └┐ │ └───┐ ┌─┐
└─────┘ └─────┘ └─────┘ └─────┘ └─┘ └──┘ └─────┘ └─┘
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
After a year with lots of more or less reliable virus alarms in the medias it
seems that the shareware world of Europe is very little affected mostly becau-
se of the awareness of safety measures of users/distributors (incl. sysops and
bbs-users) so I won't waste too much time on this subject aside from mentio-
ning that the public shareware world (distributors, bbs's and users groups)
are free from this plaque - but if YOU aren't protecting yourself with at
least an updated virus scanner you might find yourself with a not so nice gift
from your best friend or collegue!
But this time we'll discuss another theme: Author traps to 'catch' crackers!!
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
... a new (and GOOD) danish communications program Terminate has raised a big
discussion in the danish bbs-world as the author has stated that faked keys
will do very nasty things not only to the program files themselves but also to
the user's harddisk !?
As with most shareware programs the built-in limitations of the shareware ver-
sion are relatively small but to unlock the locked features you register and
the author will send you a key ...
Unfortunately the usual? crackers have allready before the official release
been playing around and have managed to produce fake keys and send these in
circulation - an uncomfortable situation for the programmer which then relea-
sed the information that use of a false key would make Terminate encrypt all
files on the harddisk to be unlocked only with a special key from author him-
self ...
This has caused a lot of discussion!
Some legitimate users (including) don't feel quite safe using a program with
such a built-in bomb even if the author assures that he has taken all measures
to ensure that it cannot be released by program or disk errors ...
Some users find this quite allright! It only explodes if you are using the
fake key and then you only get what you deserve ...
Other users find this procedure wrong or even illegal! They may be right or
wrong about the legalities ...
.. and as with many legalities about shareware there's no precedence for this
here in Denmark (and comparing with fx 'you steal my bicycle then I may legal-
ly take your car' can of cause not be used!
Anybody know anything about international precedences ?! or other similar pre-
cautions from the author's point of view ?
(please note: this should NOT be used as a crackers forum and details about
how to crack programs or use them illegally will not be accepted in this ma-
gazine!!!
-nb
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ End of chapter - press ESC for return to main menu ! │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
1992 (c) NB-data. No commercial distribution without permission from:
NB-data, Danmarksgade 16, DK-4874 Gedser, Denmark - (+45) 53 87 99 75