Using non geniuine software on a Mac

[gtp405]

so I've really been enjoying OSX now, only used it for 3 weeks. One thing I love using it for is my sensitive stuff like school and finance management. One of my friends also has a mac and has offered me software that he has downloaded from the net and pirated, he gets them on bittorrent.

I used to do that a lot with Windows, and was usually fine but stopped because it's just not worth getting jacked, obviously if you're smart enough to write a keygen then you're probably smart enough to make a keylogger or whatever. I got thinking and does my friend endanger his privacy by doing this? I know there are no spyware programs known for mac, and also no viruses, but couldn't a person still write things into the programs that could spy on what you do? He claims this is impossible. I think it is possible.

Opinions? I'm really tempted with final cut but I just don't want to do it.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

I'm not sure if this is a loaded question so i'm just going to say "in before wasteland" for good measure.

if you pirate apps on OS X and you authenticate said program with elevated privileges you are at risk of compromising your system with one of the few trojans that are out in the wild right now.

You aren't at risk for virii, because a *nix box is relatively secure in that regard. You cannot change system files or core preferences without first authenticating with your own password. After that, your box could become toast with the appropriate malware, although we havn't seen these types of attacks *yet*.

So the question is, which software packages will ask you to elevate your privileges before you install?

Pretty much all of them do. The big ones from Adobe's Creative Suite and Final Cut all the way down to the smaller packages.

Short of hash checks of legitimate CDs in your own possession, you don't know whether an installer has been compromised prior to your receiving of it. Bittorent doesn't help in this regard because the initial seed may have been a compromised copy.