Warning: Malware found in Corepack repack of fear 3 from their official site.

It might just be an isolated incident / might not. I personally prefer Fitgirl. so just posting this just as a heads up.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CrackWatch/comments/8wp2fa/there_are_malwares_inside_fear_3_corepack_releases/

I'rm not surprised at all. Nowadays almost every downloadsite for copyrighted stuff is affected.
Some sites (like G4TW) are still "clean" although offering downloads via Adf.ly also place trackers.

Misfit203 wrote:It might just be an isolated incident / might not. I personally prefer Fitgirl. so just posting this just as a heads up.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CrackWatch/comments/8wp2fa/there_are_malwares_inside_fear_3_corepack_releases/

So I did read the first few replies in that linked thread, but I can't be bothered to read everything at this hour. The question I have, and maybe you can help us shed some light on this @MisFit203, is...I assume this repack with the alleged malware was posted on some official website of said repacker? So there is a clear or at least very likely chance that this release is actually connected to the repacker in question? After all, everybody can upload items "in the name of somebody else".

I'm not entirely sure in what ways the repacker would benefit from such a release; is it just to "annoy" people? If it was about money/donations, or rather a lack thereof, wouldn't it be a more obvious choice to go for malware that is more subtle like something that sniffs or mines personal data? Instead of malware that locks down the task manager & registry editor (according to the Reddit-thread)?

Again, I only read the beginning of the linked thread, but that smells strongly like a false-flag operation. 

Edit: who else would benefit from things like these, other than game publishers?

The_gh0stm4n wrote:
So I did read the first few replies in that linked thread, but I can't be bothered to read everything at this hour. The question I have, and maybe you can help us shed some light on this @MisFit203, is...I assume this repack with the alleged malware was posted on some official website of said repacker? So there is a clear or at least very likely chance that this release is actually connected to the repacker in question? After all, everybody can upload items "in the name of somebody else".

I'm not entirely sure in what ways the repacker would benefit from such a release; is it just to "annoy" people? If it was about money/donations, or rather a lack thereof, wouldn't it be a more obvious choice to go for malware that is more subtle like something that sniffs or mines personal data? Instead of malware that locks down the task manager & registry editor (according to the Reddit-thread)?

Again, I only read the beginning of the linked thread, but that smells strongly like a false-flag operation. 

Edit: who else would benefit from things like these, other than game publishers?

This was a legitimate threat and an official release repacked by an ex-admin of corepack from 2015.

A new official apology post and also what is being done about it has since been posted on CrackWatch.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CrackWatch/comments/8wuyyk/our_sincere_apologies_to_everyone_corepack/

They take full responsibility for what was done and have removed all repacks by the said ex-admin from their site. (Sadly that doesnt mean their gone forever)

One of the members of their group spoke to that ex-admin today but couldnt get any straight answers about it.

They also plan on making fresh re-packs of all removed games.



//EDIT



Here is a list of the removed re-packs that were made by this person just so people know.

GRID 2 Reloaded Edition Inc. all Packs - CorePack | 3.3 GB
Resident Evil 4 Ultimate HD Edition - CorePack | 6.2 GB
Shadwen - CorePack | 3.9 GB
Code Of Honor 3 : Desperate Measures - CorePack | 2.3 GB
BulletStorm - CorePack | 2.6 GB
Portal 2 inc. DLC & Updates - CorePack | 4.5 GB
Dragon Age II : Ultimate Collection - CorePack | 6.19 GB
Hunted: The Demon's Forge - CorePack | 4.89 GB
Alice Madness Returns - A Complete Collection - Corepack | 5 GB
Bionic Commando - CorePack | 2 GB
Darkness II : Limited Edition - CorePack | 4.6 GB
Dynasty Warrior 8 : Xtreme Legends Complete Edition - CorePack | 14 GB
Blur - CorePack V1 | 3.8 GB
Remember Me inc. ComboLabPack - CorePack | 3.78 GB
Fallout New Vegas : Ultimate Edition - CorePacks | 5.84 GB
Dirt 3-Complete Edition | CorePack - 4.2 GB
Dead Space 3: Complete Edition - CorePack | 4.5 GB
The Bureau: XCOM DECLASSIFIED Complete Edition - CorePack | 5.1 GB
F.E.A.R 3 -CorePack | 3.2 GB (Found INFECTED!)
Mafia II: The True Gangster Edition -Corepack | 2.86 GB
Stranglehold Collectors Edition -CorePack | 3.45 GB
Inversion -CorePack | 3 GB
Bound By Flame -CorePack | 3 GB
Wasteland 2 : Director's Cut -CorePack | 4.98 GB
Trials Fusion: Awesome Level Max Edition -CorePack | 7.2 GB

Doesnt mean they all were infected, but better to be safe than sorry.
if anyone has any of these, either check them well, or even safer thing to do, just delete them, dont take the risk.

Misfit203 wrote:This was a legitimate threat and an official release repacked by an ex-admin of corepack from 2015.

A new official apology post and also what is being done about it has since been posted on CrackWatch.

(...)

Ah, well then. Thinking about it more closely: it may not be needed for game publishers (or their hired hands) to launch fake torrents. The in-fighting and disagreements within these teams are oftentimes enough already. I wonder if that COREpack ex-admin realizes that despite all personal gratification he may have derived from this stunt, that ultimately he is a useful idiot who has done the opponents of piracy a huge favor. Then again, can't argue rationally with mentally-deranged people, you just have to do damage control as best as possible.

Or: that ex-admin may have "switched sides", which can also happen sometimes. That all of a sudden they change their views to the polar opposite.

Either way, thanks for sharing these news, as usual!

Your Welcome.

man just realized i've spent 6 years at this site already [G4TW], hard to believe it's been so long. lol.

time flies


//EDIT


well here's the latest on the corepack situation at CrackWatch.

A poll was posted for CrackWatch users to vote if COREPACK is to still be considered a trusted source.

COREPACK has gone back to their own website and posted the link to the poll and asked their users to vote,
and didnt even state that the poll was specifically for CrackWatch followers. so basically they are trying to rig
the poll in their favor. I think they will likely become an untrusted source after this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CrackWatch/comments/8x8ct8/corepacks_dirty_tactics/

#UPDATE# 07/09/2018

[Crack Watch] Decision was made: Corepack is suspended from posting on reddit (self.CrackWatch)
submitted 12 hours ago * by EssenseOfMagic   Based - announcement
Dear community,
Due to the recent discovery that Corepack was posting on their forums chatbox to get more votes (and even one of the users encouraged cheating) we have decided to completely suspend Corepack from posting their repacks on our subreddit.
This suspension is permanent. There might be a revisit of their suspension, but I would not count that it will be this year, and probably not even next year.
Corepack users will still be allowed to comment, but they will not be allowed to announce their repacks in the posts nor in their comments. Especially they wont be allowed to promote their website. Doing so will leave them in moderators taking away their ability to comment as well.
They will be stripped from their flair, their approved submitter status will be removed and any further thread they make will be deleted. Should they disobey this decision, they will be fully banned.
Mods will still discuss this week whether they are to stay in the trusted list in the beginners guide.
If you have any suggestion or opinion about this, please post in the comment section.
Thanks, Crack Watch Team

Misfit203 wrote:#UPDATE# 07/09/2018

[Crack Watch] Decision was made: Corepack is suspended from posting on reddit (self.CrackWatch)
submitted 12 hours ago * by EssenseOfMagic   Based - announcement
Dear community,
Due to the recent discovery that Corepack was posting on their forums chatbox to get more votes (and even one of the users encouraged cheating) we have decided to completely suspend Corepack from posting their repacks on our subreddit.
This suspension is permanent. There might be a revisit of their suspension, but I would not count that it will be this year, and probably not even next year.
Corepack users will still be allowed to comment, but they will not be allowed to announce their repacks in the posts nor in their comments. Especially they wont be allowed to promote their website. Doing so will leave them in moderators taking away their ability to comment as well.
They will be stripped from their flair, their approved submitter status will be removed and any further thread they make will be deleted. Should they disobey this decision, they will be fully banned.
Mods will still discuss this week whether they are to stay in the trusted list in the beginners guide.
If you have any suggestion or opinion about this, please post in the comment section.
Thanks, Crack Watch Team

To put it in my typical diplomatic tone.

If the original problem was just one (1) traitor who put malware into some of the repacked games, I can imagine that their community - or the majority thereof - will still be loyal to them. Regardless of any "polls". I deliberately put this word within quotation marks, because if that CORE-moderator hadn't asked in public for votes on their own forum, it would not have been provable that there was a manipulation. There would have been circumstantial evidence, yes. But no clarity. Which raises the question as to what people really object to: the act of asking users to vote [someplace else], or the act of people voting for the "wrong thing".

Imagine the opposite scenario: the CORE-staff didn't ask for votes from their own users, and the Reddit-poll would have shown a majority in favor of CORE. What would have happened then? Would the Reddit-people have accepted this outcome? With all due respect: I highly doubt that.

Like I hinted earlier: game publishers and the anti-piracy coalition benefit from infighting among pirates in the various forms. At some point (preferably sooner than later) people should take it down a notch, and move on.

Edit: I am aware that these social media & content-aggregator platforms to a large extent benefit from viral content and lots of drama, but sometimes less is more. To be very indirect (but hopefully still recognizable, with what I want to get across).

they have been officially added to the untrusted list.
and banned from posting repacks on crackwatch.

aside from that i pretty much stopped following now.
I never was a COREPACK user myself.

I personally really only trust G4TW, Fitgirl or R.G. Mechanics.
it's rare for me to wander farther unless i absolutely just cant find what im looking for.

which these days i really dont look for much. i still stay in tune with whats going on in the piracy world,
but theres not many games that interest me. or i guess i should say being that my pc has an 8 year old phenom II CPU,
many of the best games require SSE 4.1 which usually tends to exclude phenom compatability.

usually that requirement gets patched out eventually, but who knows how long that will be.

and i guess i'll finish this off by saying thank you Games4TheWorld for being here all these years. I'm not as active as i used to be so im sure its been awhile since i gave thanks. but you are still appreciated.