Just wondering, If I installed cracked OS for my computer, does it have any threats? Will it kill my computer instantly or in the long process, make it unusable? Thank you in advance!
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Yes, that is a risk. You don't know what else the cracker has done to the OS, in addition to cracking it. And the OS has complete access to your device, so it can basically do anything it wants to. – S.L. Barth Dec 06 '16 at 10:46
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The short answer is, it depends. :) It is definitely a risk, but probably in a slightly different way to what you might expect.
A "cracked version" I suppose means somebody was knowledgable enough to modify the OS binaries so that it doesn't need the license key anymore or accepts pirate keys. But how do you know the person who disabled license verification or activation or whatever was needed to "crack" it did not add any type of malware? The OS could be doing anything with malware from the cracker, it could be running a keylogger, look for credentials to known websites, upload your data to the attacker, display advertisements, encrypt your files at some point and request ransom, make your PC part of a botnet, etc. It probably doesn't do that, at least not all the time, but still, you will never be sure.
Also it's not just the cracker itself. Cracked binaries go through dodgy storages, ftps, torrents, who knows what before you download them. As integrity/authenticity is practically never checked (at least not for security), any of those storages could have added their own malware, and this is probably an even bigger risk, because there are so many opportunities.
So no, it won't "kill your computer instantly" (whatever you think that means), but there is a very good chance that it is infected with malware (probably multiple types) and using it is not secure at all.
Gabor Lengyel
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