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Is 1337 no longer safe? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 1 year ago by Terramaris@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

61 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A user named VitaminX uploaded bitcoin miner attached to an installed for BG3. The admins removed the upload after community protests went viral, but VitaminX is for some reason not banned.

Is the site compromised? Was VitaminX splitting the profits with a rogue admin?

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[-] empireOfLove@lemmy.one 75 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Does that user have other popular uploads that might disappear if they were banned?

It's entirely possible that whatever cracker they got their upload from snuck the miner in without the uploader's knowledge. Always a lot of iffs when nobody will ever really know the truth.

Not the first time weird drama has happened in the torrent scenes and won't be the last. Just more reinforcement to scan all your downloads and consider sandboxing them until you've proven them to be clean

[-] Waker@lemmy.ml 38 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

He actually was on the 1337x comment section defending himself and at a point he said he downloaded it from [Russian website] and only repacked it. He said we could go download it from there if we didn't trust him, but I also got a virus warning from that one...

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 33 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

"There was a sign down at Ramsett Park that said 'Don't drink the sprinkler water', so I made sun tea with it, and now I have an infection"

It's cool you investigated and found out they did just (accidentally?) repack a dirty copy, but it definitely reminded me of that lady from Parks and Rec.

[-] Waker@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's true, I didn't embark on this journey of testing all the clients on my on will though.

Something I realised is that "Baldurs Gate 3" will wield very different results from "Baldur's Gate 3" . The files with the apostrophe seem to be legit, or... At least legiter

[-] empireOfLove@lemmy.one 28 points 1 year ago

So he "repacked" it and either A. Was dumb enough to not verify wtf he was repacking, or B. Intentionally added the miner.

Don't look like a real smart cookie with either option lmfao

[-] Flatworm7591@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 points 1 year ago

I guess it's possible. But looking at that VitaminX's other uploads, many of them were scammy uploads of uncracked games etc. How they qualified for VIP uploader status in an open question that should really be addressed by 1337x.

[-] normonator@lemmy.ml 75 points 1 year ago

There's malware all over that site, you download from known good uploaders or roll the dice.

There is no such thing as a safe torrent site.

[-] PsychedSy@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

Even private/exclusive sites get a bad torrent sometimes. At least there you can trust the comments, though, so it gets sorted out quickly.

[-] indicah@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

VitaminX is an admin. They were a known good uploader.

[-] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Doesn't matter how good of an uploader you are or what position you are in. You shouldn't trust anyone online sharing pirated material.

Nobody is trustworthy.

[-] AndreTelevise@beehaw.org 0 points 1 year ago

Private trackers exist and some have frequent signup windows.

[-] Yglorba@lemmy.dbzer0.com 31 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Why was the post on this removed from the Reddit Piracy sub? I find that slightly alarming.

[-] Neuromante@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 1 year ago

/r/piracy has become /r/piracymemes. The first actually useful thread since the new mods took over and they close it. It's pretty clear what they are doing with the sub.

[-] giacomo@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago

Was it ever safe?

[-] awwsom@beehaw.org 29 points 1 year ago

1337x mod response

[-] BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com 46 points 1 year ago

Here's the text in the image

If you people had half a clue what its like to run and mod a popular torrent site half the comments here would be just thanks. You think 1337x has a huge team of people moderating FREE content for you all? Let me clue you all in, this is most certainly NOT the case.

Very few people modding site right now. I can tell you this, NO one and I mean NO one is working with anyone to make money off of people on site involving moderators or admins. The people that are actively modding the site have full time jobs with families and do not look at uploads coming threw 24/7. The torrent in question was removed when it was checked and verified. Please excuse the delay as we were not fast enough for some of you and your free content. What mods are there are there just because of the community no other reason. Getting paid? Please, stop it now.

You should be wary of any software or games you download from anywhere. If you dont trust 1337x then dont go there, but to start smashing on what few moderators who are just there to support you people in your quest for good pirated material is just wrong and no where near correct.

For the people who think we are in cahoots with anyone involved with site and donations for your information none of the mods like the change that has recently happened involving donations. What sense does it make to take donations to remove ADS when and if you loose the account you are screwed? The password recovery does not work on 1337x as of now and has not for a very long time. As mods/Admins we have zero access to the backed of the site. No control Whatsoever. Never have never will. Site owner barely has any communication with the Mods if you all want to know the truth.

Posts like the OP has here makes me want to quit and let fate take its course to be perfectly honest with all the ungrateful comments for FREE CONTENT!

[-] Reborn2966@feddit.it 23 points 1 year ago

i blinded myself reading the image... and there was perfectly readable text on comment below... :facepalm:

[-] bluejay@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 year ago

Lucky for me I accidentally double tapped when trying to move the zoomed in image only to see this waiting for me

[-] DavyJones@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago

Direct link mirror (catbox.moe) because I don't like the "accept cookies" popups:

https://files.catbox.moe/neg9s6.png

[-] nieceandtows@programming.dev 13 points 1 year ago

Are they saying they don’t want to ban the person because they’re a paying customer, or that they can’t because they don’t have access to the backend?

[-] awwsom@beehaw.org 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

they are saying that they have banned the torrent but it took time because they don't have man power and also have jobs so can't test all the torrents. but once they knew torrent was bad they did remove it.

and that they are not associated with him.

this is what i m saying not them: i haven't seen any proofs that admins removed any negative mentions. As I can see all the negative mentions are there and we also got few new ones.

[-] Terramaris@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah, the mod is trying to strawman the issue. The people are concerned not that the upload wasn't caught instantly, but the fact that the uploader has not been punished.

[-] Kissaki@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The responding to something different doesn't make it a strawman.

They didn't reply to you here. They didn't reply to your uploader account concern.

[-] Waker@lemmy.ml 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Downloaded that torrent, thought it was weird that it triggered my AV. Usually I just assume it's a crack file or something, and even Windows defender will say it's a "game crack" file or something on the threat information.

However, BG3 being released on GoG I found it odd... And it wasn't even detected as a game crack file or wtv it's called. Ended up downloading one uploaded by InsaneRamZes which ALSO was detected by AV...

I've ended up downloading about 4~5 clients to finally find one that didn't trigger it... The amount of trash that was going around is insane.

The one I finally found that doesn't have a virus was from a private tracker. (which was the RUNE release)

Edit: Just checked on 1337x and this one that I had from InsaneRamZes has also been removed it seems. I can't actually find a BG3 full game torrent on there atm... But I did manage to add the tracker to my private tracker's RUNE download so I'll be sharing with you all too 🤝

[-] ciberConas3000@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I use rutracker for the most part. 1337x is blocked in my country and something feels off about the mirror. I do enjoy these types of dramas though, have to admit.

[-] Waker@lemmy.ml 18 points 1 year ago

Change dns provider and it's no longer blocked. Going by you're username we're from the same country :)

[-] Sanrasxz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago

He's from Portugal according to another comment he made.

[-] AngryHippy@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 year ago

https://github.com/ValdikSS/GoodbyeDPI

[-] astramist@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 year ago

Wow. Does anyone share software from "the russian hacker" Valdik outside the RUNet? That's the first time I've seen it.

[-] Gamey@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

If it's blocked in your country you probably don't use a CDN without cencorship, I use Cloudflares 1.1.1.1 but Googles 8.8.8.8 should do the job too! ;)

[-] jdaxe@infosec.pub 6 points 1 year ago

Small nit but I think you're referring to DNS not CDN

[-] Gamey@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Damn, I can be stupid somethimes!

[-] Pulp@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 1 year ago

Only run the signed file by gog

[-] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 13 points 1 year ago

Things like this fiasco only reinforce the rule of never trusting people online.

At any point they may end up screwing you over, no matter the position they are in.

[-] AphoticDev@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 year ago

The short answer is no. Why would you even ask that? Piracy is never safe, and you take responsibility for downloading stuff based on nothing more than the word of strangers you'll never meet that it's not infected with something that's going to steal your banking information.

[-] ram@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 year ago

1337 should be used with extreme caution. The fact that admins are removing negative comments even makes that a useless method of gauging file safety.

But of course, any tracker can have malware in their software bundles, and you should treat all with caution, especially public-facing ones. But I personally will be avoiding 1337 from hereon, for sure.

[-] muertinez@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

torrentgalaxy better anyway. 1337x always been weird

[-] redballooon@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago

Was VitaminX splitting the profits with a rogue admin?

Uh, a conspiracy theory in the baking.

[-] Ugetsu@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

In the baking? This literally came up the second this situation arose. People jumped from "This upload has a miner" via "People got banned for reporting it" to "The proceeds from the miner go directly to the admins" within one single post. And all most people had to say was "Well, where do I go now?".

[-] Ugetsu@feddit.de 6 points 1 year ago

IMO, resources like the Megathread create a false sense of security here. People read something on there and think downloading anything from sites on the megathread is absolutely safe. Just like any admin of a torrent site can´t catch anything bad before it can cause any damage, the authors of the megathred also can´t be 100% aware of each and every upload on every one of the sites featured there.

Just use your brains guys. We´re talking about piracy here after all!

[-] President_Obama@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago

Just do a scan of your machine if you downloaded pirated games from non reputable sources. Get a few uploaders you know the community trusts and where they post links to their releases

[-] TheQuantumPhysicist@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago

For the love of God stop giving bad advice. Anti virus software cannot protect you from all viruses. Viruses are trained against anti virus software nowadays so only behavioral detection may help.

Trusted community and uploaders is the only way this works.

[-] President_Obama@hexbear.net 3 points 1 year ago

Alright, just format your machine if you downloaded pirated games from non reputable sources. Get a few uploaders you know the community trusts and where they post links to their releases