Wikimedia list articleare teams of individuals who have participated in the organized unauthorized publication of films, music, or other media, as well as those who can and the digital rights management (DRM) measures applied to commercial software. This is a list of groups, both -based and groups, which have attained notoriety outside of their respective communities.
A plurality of warez groups operate within the so-called, though as of 2019 a large amount of software and game warez is now distributed first via the web. Leaks of releases from warez groups operating within the 'scene' still constitute a large amount of warez shared globally. Between 2003 and 2009 there were 3,164 active groups within the warez scene, with the majority of these groups being active for no more than two months and with only a small fraction being active for many years. The is a very competitive and volatile environment, largely a symptom of participation in its community being illegal in most countries.
A few weeks ago, we launched the beta testing phase for our new site navigation. Our design team has been hard at work implementing it, as well as working in some of the changes suggested by all of you who partook in the accompanying survey.
Groups are generally not driven by profit, but by reputation. Main article:CLASS (also known as CLS) was a warez group which was the target of federal raids such as Operation Fastlink. They were a global group with members worldwide, often releasing game 'rips'. The group ceased operations in 2004 after their 1,234th release. CODEX CODEX (also known as CDX) – is a warez group founded at the end of February 2014. They are known for releasing copies of games which use licensing and also for emulating protection.
They were accused by the warez group of stealing their code to crack, something CODEX denied, stating that they had written their own code for the DRM emulation. From 2016 to 2019 they have been one of the most active warez groups releasing commercial computer games with over 3700 releases in less than 5 years, compared to older groups like SKIDROW having fewer than 2500 over more than a decade of activity. In late 2017 CODEX gained notoriety by becoming the third scene group (and fifth overall entity) to crack Denuvo DRM when they released a cracked version of on its release date.
CODEX collaborated with STEAMPUNKS on at least one game which used Denuvo DRM, which they released under the name 'CODEPUNKS'. In February 2018 CODEX began releasing cracked copies of games from the Microsoft. In mid-2018 CODEX began releasing cracked copies of games featuring the latest versions of Denuvo DRM, including updated versions of and, both of which used licensing DRM and contained additional anti-modification and anti-debugging code through the use of. On February 1, 2019, CODEX published a cracked copy of, which used Denuvo DRM, 7 days after the worldwide commercial release of the game. In June 27 Codex cracked after 527 days of it being releasedCONSPIR4CY. One of the nfo files used by the warez group named 'CPY'CONSPIR4CY (releasing mostly as CPY) is a warez group founded in 1999 in Italy.
They rose in notoriety after releasing and in August 2016 under the name of CONSPIR4CY, though they resumed using the 'CPY' tag shortly thereafter with the release of their cracked copy of in September 2016. They became the first group to create proper cracks for games protected by the third iteration of DRM software. They cracked only five days after its release, at the time the shortest amount of time taken to develop a crack for a Denuvo DRM-protected game. They also cracked, only ten days after its release. In July 2017 the warez group SKIDROW criticized the methods used by CONSPIR4CY to crack games using Denuvo DRM.
In early 2018, CPY released cracked copies of and, which were compiled with the most recent version of Denuvo DRM, and had additional anti-modification and anti-debugging features through the use of software. In November 2018 CPY released cracks for, - all of which featured the latest version of Denuvo DRM, with some using additional custom DRM or off the shelf DRM such as EACore and VMProtect. In December 2018, CPY published a cracked copy of, which used the latest version of Denuvo DRM, on the day after its release. They also released a crack for on December 22, days after its official release. In January 2019, CPY released cracked copies of, and, as well as the first episode of (titled 'Roads') - all 4 titles using the latest versions of Denuvo DRM. In February 2019, CPY released, which used the latest version of Denuvo DRM available, within 5 days of its release, as well as the second episode of, titled 'Rules'.
There were no releases from CPY in March or April 2019. DEViANCE One of the most prolific warez groups active from 1998 to 2006. Their dissolution has been described as the end of an era, and the current affiliation of ex-DEViANCE members is a reoccurring argument between groups. Describing members of a modern warez group as ex-DEViANCE became something of a joke within the warez scene.DrinkOrDie. Main article:FAiRLiGHT (releasing cracked games as FLT) is one of the oldest groups in warez scene, founded in 1987. As of 2017 the group seemingly focuses on demos and art, with their most recent release of cracked software in December 2016. FAiRLiGHT members were apprehended in raids stemming from the law enforcement Operation Fastlink.Hoodlum Hoodlum (also known as HLM) mainly focused on cracking games which utilized digital rights management solutions offered.
They were targeted as part of the raids in 2005. In July 2018, HOODLUM again started releasing Mac, PC & PS4 games. The Dream Team The Dream Team (also known as 'TDT') were the first warez group on the IBM PC to introduce intros or 'crack'tros' to their game releases.
It was one of the first IBM PC groups founded 1988 in Sweden and run by Hard Core or also known as HC/TDT.The Humble Guys. Main article:The Humble Guys (also known as THG) were the first warez group to make use of to document their releases.HATRED Founded in late 2006, HATRED was very active during 2006 to 2007.
ViTALiTY has claimed that HATRED were former members of DEViANCE. Some of their major releases included.
Their last release was in August 2008. HYBRID HYBRID (also known as HBD) was founded in 1993. HYBRID later split up when the US-members founded DYNAMIX (later PRESTIGE and PARADIGM).
International Network of Crackers. Main article:The Pirates With Attitudes (also known as PWA) were a major international warez release group from 1992 until 2000.
The group was formed by two former INC members known by the pseudonyms Orion and Bar Manager. PWA members were the subjects of law enforcement raids after the passing of the or 'NET' Act. Project X Project X exclusively released games for the. In 2004, Project X was named as one of six groups targeted as part of Operation Fastlink by the. PROPHET PROPHET is a subgroup of or otherwise affiliated in some way with RELOADED, whose cracks they re-use in releasing multi-language versions of games.
They also tend to release copies containing the latest game content such as. These are often stylized as MULTi. For example, MULTi7 meaning the release is a copy containing 7 languages - usually some combination of English, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Polish, Czech, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, or some other European language.Rabid Neurosis. Main article:RELOADED (also known as RLD!) was founded in June 2004.
Their founders are believed to be ex-DEViANCE members, though their rival group HOODLUM claimed in December 2004 that none of DEViANCE's previous leaders had ever been in RELOADED. The group has cracked several modern protection schemes like, Blizzard's Battle.NET, and.REVOLT REVOLT gained popularity for creating solutions for cracked games to have working multiplayer features, and later for cracks of games using Denuvo DRM which were released by its founder. REVOLT was founded by a Bulgarian teenager, who used the online handle Voksi. In July 2018 the REVOLT website began redirecting to the website of the Bulgarian Ministry of the Interior. The same month, Voksi, then in his twenties, reported having been raided by Bulgarian law enforcement in response to a complaint filed by parent company Irdeto. In comments made to media organisation TorrentFreak, Voksi alleged that 'five or six officers, including two from Bulgaria's General Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime (GDBOB) and others from a local police station' entered his home and seized personal computing equipment.
Main article:Risciso (stylized as RISCISO) was an online warez group, founded in approximately 1993, dedicated to distributing newly released copyrighted software, games and movies.SKIDROW SKIDROW is a well-known cracking group originally formed in 1990, cracking games for the platform, and having used the motto 'Twice the Fun - Double the Trouble!' A piece of software released by SKIDROW in 1992 with the game 10 Pinball Fantasies contained a complete list of their membership at the time. The most recent incarnation of SKIDROW began releasing unauthorized copies of games in June 2007, when they announced their return to cracking software.They were the first group to crack the version of Ubisoft's DRM which required players to have a persistent Internet connection to Ubisoft's licensing servers, first in and then in.The group has released cracks for protected games, Yesterday Origins. It is believed the former had a bad implementation of Denuvo which made it easier to reverse engineer, mostly due to a lack of support from Denuvo for protecting games written in and specifically games using the, with this lack of support having been previously demonstrated by an anonymous independent cracker having developed a crack for, which also used Unity. The crack for the latter was actually determined to be a modified from the game, a free game which did not incorporate Denuvo's software, released by the same developers and utilizing the same engine, which had been modified slightly to load the assets from Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. A plurality of SKIDROW's current releases are cracked versions of games that make use of licensing.In July 2017, in a statement released to commemorate their 10th consecutive year of releases since re-emerging in the PC game cracking scene, SKIDROW made cryptic remarks that the techniques used by CONSPIR4CY, STEAMPUNKS, and members of the Steam Underground warez forum to crack modern copy protections are not proper. Main article:The United Software Association (also known as USA) was a prominent IBM PC games and applications warez group during the 1990s.
USA formed an alliance with the PC warez division of Fairlight which was known as 'USA/FLT'. In late January 1992, several members of USA were arrested by the and the police for.VACE VACE was founded in September 2003, and focused on cracking and ripping PC games.
Besides ripped games, the group also releases.ViTALiTY ViTALiTY (also known as VTY) was founded in May 2005. It has been suggested they were former members of DEViANCE. The group was considered blacklisted by many in the warez scene in October 2007, something ViTALiTY claims was orchestrated by rival groups RELOADED and FAiRLiGHT, though the latter claim they were against it. ViTALiTY was accused of either reporting or threatening to report members of other groups to the FBI, though ViTALiTY claimed a senior member of RELOADED threatened to do the same to them. ViTALiTY's last release was an update to on 7 January 2011. See also.References.