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0 pointsphs318u4y ago0 comments

Back in the earliest part of my career (late 80's), I had a love for single-byte hex hacks, especially for apps that were timed to stop working after the trial period. Changing the date-check comparison branch instruction so that the apps would only work _after_ the trial period ended. Used this on various C64, Amiga, and VAX/VMS(!) apps. I thought I was so clever :)

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1_player4y ago

When I was 16 I helped my father and his friends by cracking a laser scanning software they got their hands on which required a hardware key.

Thanks to Ollydbg, I just had to open the executable, find the error message and change a JZ to a JNZ *. Incredibly easy if you know how to, but you look like a cool HACKERMAN to everybody else.

Sadly, my professional life nowadays as a full stack engineer is much less glamorous than cracking software for street cred.

* A NOP would have been preferrable in retrospect, though I like the idea that with my patch you'd get locked out iff you have the hardware key.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsphs318u4y ago0 comments

0 comments

1_player4y ago

When I was 16 I helped my father and his friends by cracking a laser scanning software they got their hands on which required a hardware key.

Thanks to Ollydbg, I just had to open the executable, find the error message and change a JZ to a JNZ *. Incredibly easy if you know how to, but you look like a cool HACKERMAN to everybody else.

Sadly, my professional life nowadays as a full stack engineer is much less glamorous than cracking software for street cred.

* A NOP would have been preferrable in retrospect, though I like the idea that with my patch you'd get locked out iff you have the hardware key.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse