Hypothetical: Do cracked software packages contain viruses

[Fike]

This is strictly hypothetical.....I would never use or install a cracked software package. I am not a cracker, so I don't know about this stuff, but in the process of cracking software, are people able to insert viruses? Will a virus utility catch them if the file is scanned?

thanks,
wide-eyed, and bushy-tailed

 

[SimonCrux]

If the package is modified by an outside source, sure there can be a virus somewhere in the software package. Any crack that you download, whether it be an .exe or .com or whatever, can be a virus as well. Groups try to protect from outside modification of releases with CRC checkfiles, but they could even put a virus in there in the first place, unwittingly or not. It's not common, but very possible. Watch your back when downloading from unofficial places.