I understand that sharing video, photos, documents etc. is relatively safe because the data is not executed in the processor as instructions. How come people are willing to download and install pirated software though? How can one be confident that it does not contain malicious addons? Are people just don’t know the risks? Or are there protection mechanisms that I am missing? I mean since the software is usually cracked there is not much use in comparing checksums with the originals, is it?
Pro tip: if you do not trust the source. Do sfv verification. You can find the CRC of the ISO on trusted pre sites. (Like predb.me). Granted you need to trust the CRC on the Pre sites. The CRCs on the pre sites are the ones posted of the (ftp) scene groups. So if your shady torrent matches the scene CRC you are golden.