How do you take care of repack?

[Nazareno]

Hello, I've seen a repack that works by excluding host files (The drivers folder). What are you doing to make a repack more difficult? Thank you very much in advance. Best regards.

 

https://www.virustotal.com/es-ar/file/c34c3f60837d9480794608059600df2d36a9b4a5c221034e3436e14d00d6c935/analysis/1543755829/

[Malwarebytes]

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[David H. Lipman]

You are assuming everyone knows what you mean by a "repack".

Please me more specific.

[Nazareno]

Hi, thank you so much for answering. What I mean is that some programmers make an adulterated version of mbam and then share it. Soon it appears in many sites to download, use (Like this repack I found in a youtube video) and this brings consequences since it is not legal. By this I don't mean that anyone can do a repack, I'm just saying that some do it and then it spreads all over the net. If you authorize me I leave you the link to download the repack. I thank you again. Best regards.

[David H. Lipman]

Many legitimate applications are repackaged with a new installer.  This additional installation wrapper may install a trojan, such as a downloader, in conjunction with the legitimate installer.  The thing to realize is that most legitimate installers incorporate a Publisher's Certificate and is thus digitally signed.  When such an installer is repackaged with an additional installer, that wrapper will NOT be digitally signed with the Publisher's Certificate, it will have a different binary hash value and will be a physically larger file.  This is the case with Malwarebytes.

In the case of legitimate installers that are not incorporated with a Publisher's Certificate ( due to costs and other impediments ), when the legitimate installer is repackaged with an additional installer,  it will have a different binary hash value and will be a larger file.  Another note is that the two different package installers ( the author's and the one added by the malicious actor ) may not be from the same vendor.

 

Edited December 2, 2018 by David H. Lipman
Edited for content, clarity, spelling and grammar

[Nazareno]

Thank you so much. Topic solved. Best regards.

[TempLost]

I would have thought the best defence against installing a "repack" of a Malwarebytes product would be to ensure one only buys / downloads from the official Malwarebytes site. Or am I missing something? 

[exile360]

2 hours ago, TempLost said:

I would have thought the best defence against installing a "repack" of a Malwarebytes product would be to ensure one only buys / downloads from the official Malwarebytes site. Or am I missing something? 

Correct, I believe the OP's concern is that such repacks enable piracy of the product and the user wants to ensure that Malwarebytes is taking appropriate measures to protect their intellectual property and continued economic viability.  Truth be told, software always gets pirated to some degree regardless of how extensive the anti-piracy measures a company may have in place and thankfully most customers/users are honest so the losses from piracy are generally not big enough to warrant too much investment in fighting, however Malwarebytes has implemented a reasonable level of validation and anti-piracy technology to ensure that at the very least, pirating the software for an extended period of time would be extremely difficult if not impossible (thanks in no small part to the fact that they now operate on a yearly subscription basis rather than using lifetime licenses, meaning every license/key must be regularly validated with Malwarebytes' licensing servers to continue functioning in Premium/paid mode, and every license/key issued is tracked/stored on their servers which prevents fakes from validating).  The primary purpose of these technologies is to simplify and manage the subscription licensing system and to ensure that customers receive the protection they've paid for and can manage their subscriptions and installations across their devices (especially important now that multi-device/multi-install licenses are available for consumers), however the side-effect with regards to repacks, keygens, hacks, cracks and similar piracy tools is that it makes it far more difficult (again, or impossible) for them to work for extended periods of time.

Thankfully, the way that Malwarebytes has implemented their licensing is in such a way that, while it does help to greatly curb piracy, it is not a hindrance to their customers (unlike some software vendors I've dealt with, who are more concerned with piracy than they are the user experience for their own customers who actually paid them; several PC game publishers come to mind, though I won't name them for obvious reasons as it would not be appropriate here, but a quick web search will provide ample examples).

[TempLost]

Thanks for that insight - always fascinating to know what goes on behind the scenes. 😉

[exile360]

You're welcome