Software Piracy Exposed [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Paul Craig (Author), Mark Burnett (Technical Editor)

Book Description

Release date: May 1, 2005 | ISBN-10: 1932266984 | ISBN-13: 978-1932266986 | Edition: 1

This book is about software piracy--what it is and how it's done. Stealing software is not to be condoned, and theft of intellectual property and copyright infringement are serious matters, but it's totally unrealistic to pretend that it doesn't happen. Software piracy has reached epidemic proportions. Many computer users know this, the software companies know this, and once you've read the Introduction to this book, you'll understand why. Seeing how widespread software piracy is, learning how it's accomplished, and particularly how incredibly easy it is to do might surprise you. This book describes how software piracy is actually being carried out.

* This book is about software piracy--what it is and how it's done
* This is the first book ever to describe how software is actually stolen and traded over the internet
* Discusses security implications resulting from over 1/2 of the internet's computers running illegal, unpatched, pirated software

Product Details

• Paperback: 356 pages
• Publisher: Syngress; 1 edition (May 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932266984
• ISBN-13: 978-1932266986
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.7 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,220,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining but flawed January 25, 2006

By Scott A. Moore

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

First, I ran across this book in the bookstore, went home, got a

better price, and read it cover to cover. The book was entertaining

as hell. The only part I didn't particularly care for was the

inclusion in the appendix of what was clearly an overview of

current virus, popup, firewalls and other softwares, which I

considered way off the book's subject.

The problem with the book is that it seems entirely unproofed

(unproofread). Spelling errors are rampant, and the author

appeared to lose control of the book in places, writing

"Sentinel was discovered by the FBI in late 1999, who then

called the FBI"

The various clerical errors could have been overlooked. However,

there were so many technical errors and distortions, I was left

wondering if the author was reporting on what he had witnessed

in the "scene" accurately. He reports again and again that

crackers can defeat any program in minutes or hours, then later

relates on programs that remain uncracked. Which is it ? There

are pronouncements about how certain programs cannot be cracked

when they make windows calls, leading to the conclusion that

the author is not aware that even the Windows kernel can be

debugged. The author talks about dongles being "enveloped",

as a "small deciphering machine". It appears that he wasn't

aware that a dongle can have an onboard CPU, or be a simple

ROM accessible by the main computer. The text reads like

an effort to dance around the fact that he didn't

understand the difference.

The other errors, or if you will, "affectations" of the book

are just annoying. The term "ISO" is used many times in the

book as the term for a CD-ROM image on a computer. The author

does, at one point, give the definition of ISO = International

Organization for Standardization, but never gives the full

definition of "ISO 9660" (or similar). Calling a disk image

an "ISO" is like calling an apple "A grocery" because that's

where you got the apple. ISO has hundreds, if not thousands of

standards. I do realize that such misuse of terms is common

on the internet, but I would expect better from a reporter.

The term "warez" is explained: (exaggerated plural derivative

of software). Not bad, but the author repeats this expansion

over and over again like a bad Saturday Night Live skit.

I liked the book, but would warn that there are better books

to really learn how to protect applications against piracy.

My current favorite is "reversing", but Eldad Eilam, but I have

three books on the subject so far, and I unfortunately find I

know more about it than the writers of these books (and not

because I know more than average).

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.. November 25, 2005

By Thomas Duff HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

With all the hype currently being generated about digital piracy, I decided it might be interesting to read Software Piracy Exposed by Paul Craig and Mark Burnett. There's an interesting subculture there that's unlike anything I've ever known, and it's not quite what I expected...

Craig spent some time working himself into a position of trust with a number of significant players in the piracy scene. While not participating in the activities himself, he was able to see how cracking and distribution organizations are structured, and what drives the individuals to do what they do. Surprisingly for software piracy, it's not necessarily being able to have and use the software you crack. Mainly it's the bragging rights to say you were the first to crack and distribute the package, or that you have the largest collection and distribution network. I got the distinct impression that most of the hardcore players in this culture don't even have the time to use the software. Since these groups are competing against each other, minutes can be critical in breaking a package open and getting it out first on a network. And as soon as one is done, the next one is waiting. If you spend days cracking something complex and then get beat out by another group by a few minutes, you (and your group) don't get credit for the hack and all the work was wasted. It seems like music and movies are less intense so far as breaking encryption, but a bigger deal to get it out early. Morals and ethics aside, it's a rare look into a strange lifestyle...

While the book is pretty good, it did suffer from some bad basic editing. Acronyms were inconsistently spelled (MP3, Mp3, etc.), and I got tired of seeing the parenthetical description of "warez" showing up time after time. Explain it once at the beginning, and then move on. There were even a couple of times when the explanation of the acronym was just plain wrong. I feel if you're going to publish a technical book, you need to pay attention to these things. Otherwise, it looks shoddy, unprofessional, and rushed. While it wasn't enough to make me dislike the book, it did detract somewhat from what would have been a very good volume otherwise.

Editing aside, it's a worthy read in order to understand the mindset and reality of the piracy and cracking subculture. Software piracy does have a financial effect on copyright owners, but it's not a case of "every copy is a lost sale"...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars good potential, but badly organized and full of errors February 23, 2006

By Richard Hassinger

Format:Paperback

This is the kind of book that is unique, original, and yet, seems as if it was accepted by the publisher as a first draft. The author makes clearly obvious factual errors every three pages or so. Case in point, he claims P2P is shorthand for "person-to-person". Another doozy: "less than 10 percent of Altair owners never paid for their copy of BASIC" (the exact opposite is true). Some sections of the book, particularly those on internet hacking and usage of firewalls, are completely pointless and out of place. This book was clearly rushed to market. Shame on Syngress for screwing this one up.