Camera Labs

Hi folks,

If you are offered a copy of Photoshop CS4 for the Mac at a price that's too good to be true then it might be a good idea to pass...

From this INTEGO SECURITY ALERT:

Intego has discovered a new variant of the iServices Trojan horse that the company discovered on January 22, 2009. This new Trojan horse, OSX.Trojan.iServices.B, like the previous version, is found in pirated software distributed via BitTorrent trackers and other sites containing links to pirated software. OSX.Trojan.iServices.B Trojan horse is found bundled with copies of Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Mac. The actual Photoshop installer is clean, but the Trojan horse is found in a crack application that serializes the program.
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The risk of infection is serious, due to the number of infected users, and these users may face extremely serious consequences if their Macs are accessible to malicious users. The first version of this Trojan horse was seen downloading new code to infected computers, which were then used in a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack on certain web sites. Since this new variant uses the same technology, and contacts the same remote servers, it is likely that it will attempt to download new code and perform such actions...

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Don't do warez, mkay?

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PhilipGoh.com

There are plenty of safe torrents out there. Dont let this scare you.

If you want to steal stuff and get it for free, I'm not going to judge you. But this is just one of the risks.

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

I think it's a fact, that a lot of semi-pro photographers are using a cracked photoshop version.. it's simply too expensive to get it the legit way as long as you don't get serious money out of it...

But obviously, as soon as you want to go pro, a license is a must. And it's pretty annoying to use cracked versions, too - I tried. They've done a really good job with the CS3/4 protection. And of course, you risk getting a virus or similar... I guess the best way is just to use lightroom and/or photoshop elements, which are both still affordable for us mortals.

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Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM | Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM | Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM
...and a lot of lighting stuff. -> complete list of equipment

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Considering that practically all Mac users think that they're immune from viruses/trojans so they're not running any anti-virus scanner in the background, is it really wise to be installing files from an untrusted source? You have no idea where this piece of software came from. You have no idea if anything is piggy backing onto the installer.

There's a moral aspect here, but I won't bother expounding on it since it's highly unlikely you'll take your moral cues from some anonymous dude over the internet. Instead, think about how stupid it is to install software from a source that's unverified when you're running around without any protection.

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PhilipGoh.com

Exactly. I could even go as far to say that manufacturers benefit from piracy. Why?

Say, you are starting out, and have the choice between PS and Corel. You choose PS because it's easier to crack.
Then, when you go pro, or your concience catches up to you, you will buy PS, because that's the program you have used for the past years!

Just offering a refreshing view here

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

No they don't. Your example basically illustrates that.



Corel Paint Shop Photo X2 doesn't really compete with full blown Adobe Photoshop. It's £56 for the full suite while Adobe charges hundreds of £££ for Photoshop. In an ideal world, Corel would be the choice for people who could not afford full blown Photoshop and didn't pirate Photoshop since how can Corel compete against a product that is undoubtably better, that targets a different market, yet eats into your market because it's essentially free.

Piracy essentially solidifies the position of monopolies and makes it practically impossible for new comers to break into the market. Going back to your example, companies like Adobe and Microsoft don't really mind piracy that much since as you've noted it benefits them in the long run. On the other hand, it's quite difficult to argue that it help out the little guys.

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PhilipGoh.com

"Buy the best, cry only once"

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Jim Hawksworth Flickr
Canon 30D | EF 17-40 f/4L | EF 70-200 f/4L USM | EF 50 f/1.8 II | 580EX II | Berleback 2420 Tripod | and other various tools

True, it's the smaller businesses that get hit by piracy. World of Goo (most pirated game ever) is an example of this.

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

haha I downloaded world of goo. Its a great game!

WoW! Was lazily browsing the forum for interesting stuff and HOLY SH...! Bob talking about some pirated distro of PS! Ha... well, I won't go into any moral lecturing, but about the "stupidity" part mentioned above, I'd say it's *stupider* to take your OS's security as granted and *just* doubt software from *unreliable sources*. And why on earth would you ever install what you think is not reliable at the first place? Before downloading something (such as a torrent), there ARE very obvious ways to figure out the level of reliability of the download AND the source. And leaving your computer unprotected isn't a very smart idea either, is it? Just because it's a MAC and not Windows, doesn't mean it's untouchable. Not even Linux, Solaris or any other Unix is, for the record.

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SX10IS
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