{"id":8434,"date":"2015-06-29T11:41:05","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T15:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=8434"},"modified":"2015-06-29T11:41:05","modified_gmt":"2015-06-29T15:41:05","slug":"malwarebytes-offers-amnesty-to-pirates-amid-licensing-overhaul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/06\/29\/malwarebytes-offers-amnesty-to-pirates-amid-licensing-overhaul\/","title":{"rendered":"Malwarebytes offers amnesty to pirates amid licensing overhaul"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Malwarebytes is extending an olive branch to software pirates as it tries to banish bogus licenses from its system.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s Amnesty program flags potentially pirated versions of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium, and offers a legitimate year\u2019s subscription (normally $25) in exchange. Legitimate users who\u2019ve been mistakenly flagged as pirates can also ask for a longer subscription\u2014or even a lifetime license\u2014to match their original purchase.<\/p>\n

As Malwarebytes CEO Marcin Kleczynski explained in the company\u2019s forums, many years ago the company made the mistake of using an insecure licensing key algorithm. This made it easy for pirates to generate their own keys, and for unscrupulous vendors to sell false licenses. As Malwarebytes\u2019 user base has grown, this has led to bogus keys overlapping with legitimate ones.<\/p>\n

Malwarebytes is now switching to a more secure licensing system, but in the process must deal with all those duplicate keys. The Amnesty program is designed to let legitimate users (and users who thought they were legitimate) request fresh licenses while attempting to convert some pirates in the process. Malwarebytes says the old keys will stop working \u201cafter a period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some users in Malwarebytes\u2019 forums have pointed out that it\u2019s entirely possible for pirates to claim that they purchased legitimate copies and to request full lifetime licenses, as the Amnesty system doesn\u2019t currently check for proof. However, Klecyznski suggested that the company may start checking some of these claims manually.<\/p>\n

Why this matters: Unlike Microsoft\u2019s halfhearted appeal to Windows pirates, this isn\u2019t merely a marketing ploy. Instead, it\u2019s an attempt to erase a longstanding licensing problem and crack down on piracy, all while minimizing the collateral damage. While some users may not appreciate seeing pirates get a free ride, it\u2019s better than locking out users who have every intention of paying.<\/p>\n

via Malwarebytes offers amnesty to pirates amid licensing overhaul | PCWorld<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Malwarebytes is extending an olive branch to software pirates as it tries to banish bogus licenses from its system. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,9,10],"tags":[656,827],"class_list":["post-8434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security","category-software","category-technology","tag-malwarebytes","tag-piracy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-2c2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8920,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2016\/05\/17\/8920\/","url_meta":{"origin":8434,"position":0},"title":"Tech support scammers now utilizing ransomware-like lock screens to threaten people","author":"NCCT","date":"May 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"By Justin Luna | Neowin Some of us may be very well aware of the classic tech support scam stories, where a man randomly calls people, and informs them that they are from \"Windows company\" and that the call recipient's computer has been detected full of viruses. 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