List of warez groups

List of warez groups

Warez groups typically tag their releases with NFO files. Due to the nature of the Warez scene, not much is known about these groups. Listed here are many of the more significant warez groups, with a short introduction of when they were formed and what they have done. Note that there are many other warez groups that are not included here.

Contents

Apocalypse Production Crew

Apocalypse Production Crew (styled as aPOCALYPSE pRODUCTION cREW or aPC) was a major MP3 warez organization founded by two individuals known under the pseudonyms acid^rain and Viper in May 1997.[1]

Australian Crackers United

Australian Crackers United were primarily based in Melbourne, Australia. They existed between 1987 and 1992 largely importing warez from overseas via standard dialup modem. They focused on C games and applications.[2]

aXXo

aXXo is also one of the most famous[citation needed] Movie torrent groups which releases decent quality (Although not in High-Definition to minimize file size) DVD rips which are very popular[citation needed] among torrent users.


aXXo isn't a group, it was one person only, ripping movies all day.

The Band

The Band was formed in 1987 in Belgium by Duncan, Sir 004 & Gonthar (former members of WOW on the C64), and was one of Belgium's earliest and most famous cracking groups on the Amiga. They released a lot of well known Amiga games and were one of the first to crack a new protection method, first used on the boxing game Ring Side. The group was disbanded end of 1989. Several members joined German group Vision Factory.

Bentley Sidwell Productions

Bentley Sidwell Productions is said to have made some of the earlier IBM PC cracktros, because they credited themselves with CGA animations in their cracks.[3] Lord Blix, the actual cracker, also wrote Gunbelt, a program for hacking long distance access codes.

Canadian Pirates Inc

Canadian Pirates Inc were a Canadian based cracking group with BBS boards in Toronto, Ontario started in 1983 releasing Apple products.[4]

The Cartel

The Cartel (also known as ThC) was a courier group that gave rise to The Speed Racer (TSR) as head of Razor 1911 in the early 1990s.

Centropy

Centropy, founded in January 1999, was a warez group which specialized in the piracy of films. Touting many "0-day" and "negative day" releases, Centropy has notoriously released and pre-released numerous films. Among the most well known is their release of The Matrix Reloaded, before it was released to movie theaters in 2003.[5]

cRACKERS iN aCTiON

cRACKERS iN aCTiON (also known as CiA)[6], founded in 2000 by tKC[7], using IRC to communicate[8][9]

CLASS

CLASS (also known as CLS) was a prolific game warez group which has been the repeated target of federal raids such as Operation Fastlink. They are a global group and have many members worldwide, often releasing "rip" games. The group ceased operations in 2004 after their 1,234'th release.[10]

DEViANCE

Subject to raid in Operation Fastlink. Many members are now supposedly releasing under the group name HATRED.[11]

DEViSO

DEviSO was the very first video CD release group, founded in approximately 1997-1998, and went on to release some quality applications before morphing into other group incarnations.[12]

DrinkOrDie

DrinkOrDie (also known as DoD) released a pirated copy of Windows 95 before it was released at retail stores. They were subject to a raid in Operation Buccaneer.[13]

Echelon

Echelon is a warez group which specializes in the release and distribution of console games, such as Dreamcast ISOs.[14]

The Elite Council

TEC [15] was formed in late 1987 as a full function Commodore 64 importer, cracker, distributor, and demo maker with connections to TRIAD, among other groups. They released only a handful of titles before the members moved on to bigger and better groups.

EViL

The iSO division (EViLiSO) was one of the first groups to release movies, eventually leading to many topsites accepting VCD releases.[citation needed] Released American Pie on the Internet 3 months before its theatrical release.[16] Also released the first screener version of Star Wars episode 1.

Fairlight

Fairlight (also known as FLT), One of the oldest groups in warez scene, founded in 1987. While still active, the group focuses on demos.[17] Fairlight was subject to raid in Operation Fastlink, which almost killed their ISO division. Their Demoscene division was not affected by the raid.[18] FLT's Iso Division is still active in 2008 and is releasing from time to time new Game Titles.[citation needed]

FiRM

The FiRM was a notable PC cracking group from 1989 to the early 1990s. They mainly released cracked games but also created several utilities such as PkUnlite which unpacked executables which were compressed using Phil Katz PkLite.[19]

Hoodlum

Hoodlum[disambiguation needed ] mainly focused on cracking Safedisc and Securom.[20] They were targeted as part of the Operation Site Down raids in 2005.[21][22]

The Humble Guys

The Humble Guys (also known as THG) were the first warez group to make use of NFO files to document their releases.[23]

International Network of Crackers

International Network of Crackers (also known as INC) was one of the premier cracking/releasing warez groups for the IBM PC during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The majority of their releases during 1993 were educational games for children. By early 1994, INC had completely disappeared from the warez scene.[24]

Kalisto

Kalisto is a console warez group established in March 1998[25] which specializes in the release and distribution of PlayStation and PlayStation 2 ISO images, briefly moonlighting on the Dreamcast platform in mid to late 2000.[26]

Maven

maVen is a pirate movie release group that was active from July 25, 2004 till 2007.[27] The group was known for releasing high quality telesync versions of major blockbuster titles. In the summer of 2006, the stream of maVen releases suddenly halted. The FBI had caught Gérémi Adam, one of the key members. The 27 year-old Montreal resident has been sentenced to two and a half months in prison and was also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service. He pleaded guilty to distributing two major motion pictures: Invincible and How to Eat Fried Worms[28][29] After the bust, releases ceased and another group called maVenssupplieR immediately took up the slack.[30][31] In April 2010, the 28 year old Gérémi Adam died of a drug overdose at the Pointe-aux-Trembles home he shared with his girlfriend, Cynthia Laporte.[32][33][34]

MiRaGe

MiRaGe (also known as MrG) was a prominent encoder group in the late 1990s, which operated through its IRC channel #movie-central on the DALnet network. The group received 0-day VCD releases via couriers and compressed them into the ASF video format, which was more suitable for mass distribution in a time where most users had 56k dial-up connections. It also operated a subgroup, MrG-MV, which applied the same distribution mechanism to music videos.

Motiv8

Motiv8 (also known as M8) was born in early 1991 in the Commodore 64 Scene as a Demo/Release group. In 1994, led by Mason and Xerox, it split off to create the Motiv8 PC Section. In February 1998 Mason disbands the group. June 29, 1998 Motiv8 was reborn under the leadership consisting of Dogan and Highlandr. As of 2005, Motiv8 is currently still active.[35][36]

Myth

Myth was a warez group, focused on cracking and ripping PC games. Besides ripped games, the group also released trainers and cracked updates for games.[37]

National Elite Underground Alliance

National Elite Underground Alliance (also known as NEUA) was an IBM PC warez release organization largely based out of New York which operated during the early 1990s.

PARADOX

PARADOX (also known as PDX) was founded in 1989, mainly cracking/release games for the Amiga. They have since spread to the PC and other consoles. They were one of the earliest groups to successfully crack Windows Vista which was supposed to be a challenge for the hackers at the time of its release. They are one of the major warez groups still around today.

pHAZE

The true top curry group in the scene, they were one of the most long lasting curry groups around, starting in the early 1990's and lasting until at least 2005 they were a constant #1 when it came to racing releases on the highest rated topsites in the Scene.[citation needed]

Phrozen Crew

"The Phrozen Crew: one of the larger and more prolific Crackz groups" - PC World Magazine 1999[38]

Phrozen Crew (PC), founded in 1993 by tKC[7][dead link], was one of the most popular groups of computer software crackers, with the tagline "We always get what we want!".[39]

Pirates With Attitude

Pirates With Attitude (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 made global headlines by releasing Microsoft Windows 98 four weeks before it hit store shelves. PWA members were raided close after the passing of the No Electronic Theft or "NET" Act.[40]

Project X

Project X is a scene release group that exclusively released games for the Xbox. The group was active from May 2002 until November 2006.[41] In 2004, Project X was named as one of six groups targeted as part of Operation Fastlink by the United States Department of Justice.[42]

Rabid Neurosis

Rabid Neurosis (RNS) was an MP3 warez release organization which was founded on June 6th 1996[43].

Radium

Radium (also known as RDM) is known primarily for cracking and releasing high dollar audio editing software such as Cubase VST and Pro Tools. One of their greater accomplishments was to actually speed up the Fraunhofer MP3 codec as well as cracking the copy protection.[citation needed] Radium were said to have offered better support for their releases than the companies who actually manufactured the programs.[44] Several verses of the rap song Hackers and the Crackers" by Zearle are devoted to the group Radium. In 2004, it was discovered that some of the sounds included with the Microsoft Windows XP operating system, such as WMPAUD1.WAV, were authored using a pirated version of Sound Forge which was supplied by Radium.[45][46]

Razor 1911

Razor 1911 (also known as RZR) was founded in 1985 on the Commodore 64 but also had a major presence on the Amiga and the IBM PC. They were subject to raid in Operation Buccaneer and Operation Fastlink.

RELOADED

RELOADED (also known as RLD) was founded in June 2004 from the ex-members of DEViANCE.[47] They released and cracked Spore 4 days [48][49] and a The Sims 3 beta version 15 days before their respective street dates.[50] On February 29, 2008, RELOADED released a cracked version of Assassin's Creed, a month before it was to hit the shelves on March 28. Although, this release was later nuked for not being the final retail version as well as having crashing issues.[51] The retail version was released by them more than a month later.[52] They also released Battlefield 3, 4 days before the official release date. As well, released Modern Warfare 3 on the day that the game was released.

Risciso

Risciso (stylized as RISCISO) was an online warez group, founded in approximately 1993, dedicated to distributing newly-released copyrighted software, games and movies.

RiSE

FXP Scene Group focuses on warezing applications developed by members of The Business Software Alliance.[53]

RTS

Request To Send (also known as RTS) is one of the oldest still existing courier groups. The group began in 1994 and is still currently active as of June 17, 2008. On September 21st, 1994, RTS beats RiSC on #warez with Wing Commander Armada. The significance of this event was massive attention drawn to RTS. That fall was rough, though, with many narc attempts on people in the scene. Many of the top boards were forced to go down during this period.

RiSC

Rise in Superior Couriering (also known as RiSC) was one of the largest courier groups during BBS era.

SHOCK

SHOCK was founded in July 1996 from the defunct group CiA by someone going by the alias Outbreak. In October 1996, SHOCK successfully merged with The Corporation (CORP). In 1998, SHOCK surpassed 1000 releases and founded an ISO division: SHOCKiSO. By 1999, SHOCK had 1500 releases and 2000 releases by May 30, 2000.[54][55]

SKiDROW

SKiDROW is a cracking group known for breaking the UbiSoft DRM protection.[56] SKiDROW has released their content since 1990, having originated on the Amiga out of the ashes of Paranoimia. Skid Row continued for two years on Amiga before internal conflicts led to them disbanding, with members like Blackhawk returning back to resurrect Paradox. Between 2004 and 2007 they seemed to have faded away, but since 2007 they have released many things: trainers, games and cracks. Although they were releasing many games, they truly became well known in the gaming community after cracking Ubisoft's first DRM version. Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic and Assassin's Creed II utilize this type of protection, and both have been cracked by SKiDROW, among many other games. Even Ubisoft's second DRM version has been cracked by them, in games such as From Dust and Shaun White Skateboarding.

Superior Art Creations

Superior Art Creations (SAC) is an underground artscene group which caters primarily to and is well known within the warez|warez scene.

TECHNiC

TECHNiC is a small group from France, mostly active around 2004. They specialized on ripping games but they reportedly released stolen cracks.[57] The group was known for releasing rip versions of games which would not be released by the more 'accepted' groups due to size limitation rules introduced in the S.R.R.

Tristar and Red Sector Incorporated

Tristar and Red Sector, Inc. (also known as TRSI) began as an alliance between two warez groups: Tristar and Red Sector Incorporated. They were formed in 1990 as a cooperative Commodore 64 demo coding and cracking group. TRSI migrated from the Commodore 64 release platform to the Amiga and IBM-PC, and eventually branched off into the console gaming scene before finally disbanding their warez division.[58] In late 2003, TRSI became inactive and remains so today.[59]

United Software Association

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 of 1992, several members of USA were arrested by the United States Secret Service and the Farmington Hills, Michigan police for credit card fraud.[60]

We Love Warez

We Love Warez (also known as WLW) was subject to raid during Operation Buccaneer, Operation Fastlink, and Operation Safehaven.[61]

Harddow is a cracking group that cracked black ops but not officaly released. They only give cracks to private people. They also cracked BattleField 3 when it didnt even came out yet.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Apocalypse Production Crew on MP3Scene". MP3Scene. http://www.mp3scene.info/groups/view/apc/. Retrieved 2011-08-09. 
  2. ^ BitWorld - Amiga
  3. ^ Bentley Sidwell Productions' history
  4. ^ The group history
  5. ^ 'Matrix' sequel spotted on the Net CNET News.com
  6. ^ Netmag: Warez je sport (Czech)
  7. ^ a b tKC history
  8. ^ Kybernetická kriminalita By Václav Jirovský
  9. ^ [1]
  10. ^ Defacto2 - Class (CLS) Group Page
  11. ^ Defacto2 - Hatred (HTD) Group Page
  12. ^ [2]
  13. ^ DrinkOrDie
  14. ^ Dreamcast NFOs at nfohump.com
  15. ^ [3]
  16. ^ "Video CD: American Pie". The iSONEWS. Archived from the original on 2005-02-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20050211094807/http://www.theisonews.com/release.php?releaseid=4262. 
  17. ^ Defacto2 - Fairlight (FLT) Group Page
  18. ^ Group NFO after the bust.
  19. ^ The group history
  20. ^ "HOODLUM releases on nfohump.com". http://www.nfohump.com/index.php?switchto=nfos&menu=quicknav&item=search&search=true&group=HOODLUM. 
  21. ^ http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2005/June/05_crm_353.htm
  22. ^ Group history
  23. ^ The Humble Guys
  24. ^ International Network of Crackers
  25. ^ "Xenosaga_Episode_One_5th_Year_Anniversary_Release_USA_PS2DVD-KALISTO". NFOHump. 2003-02-27. Archived from the original on 2007-03-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20070312200528/http://www.nforce.nl/index.php?menu=quicknav&item=viewnfo&id=25965. Retrieved 2009-12-30.  [4]
  26. ^ "NFOHump: Kalisto releases". NFOHump. http://www.nfohump.com/index.php?menu=quicknav&item=search&search=true&group=KALISTO. Retrieved 2010-02-02. 
  27. ^ "VCDQuality.com list of maVen releases". http://www.vcdq.com/index.php?grp=1193. Retrieved 2010-03-17. 
  28. ^ Ernesto (2010-03-17). "Canadian Movie Pirate 'maVen' Sent To Jail". TorrentFreak. http://torrentfreak.com/canadian-movie-piracy-maven-sent-to-jail-100317/. 
  29. ^ "Movie pirate gets 2½ months in jail". CBC News. 2010-03-16. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/03/16/film-pirating-sentencing.html. 
  30. ^ enigmax (2007-12-05). "Police Charge 'maVen', 'World Leader' in Internet Movie Piracy". TorrentFreak. http://torrentfreak.com/police-charge-maven-world-leader-movie-piracy-071205/. 
  31. ^ "VCDQuality.com list of maVenssupplieR releases". http://www.vcdq.com/index.php?grp=1727. Retrieved 2010-03-17. 
  32. ^ enigmax (2010-04-06). "Canadian Movie Pirate ‘maVen’ Dies of Drug Overdose". TorrentFreak. http://torrentfreak.com/canadian-movie-pirate-‘maven’-dies-of-drug-overdose-100406/. 
  33. ^ Jean Nicolas Aubé (2010-04-06). "Le pirate de films Gérémi Adam retrouvé mort à Montréal [Movie pirate Gérémi Adam found dead in Montreal]" (in French). 24H Montréal. http://www.24hmontreal.canoe.ca/24hmontreal/actualites/archives/2010/04/20100405-160647.html. 
  34. ^ Katherine Wilton (2010-04-06). "Montreal film bootlegger dies of suspected drug overdose". The Gazette. http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Montreal+film+bootlegger+dies+suspected+drug+overdose/2769334/story.html. 
  35. ^ The group history
  36. ^ member list
  37. ^ "MYTH releases on nfohump.com". http://www.nfohump.com/index.php?switchto=nfos&menu=quicknav&item=search&search=true&group=MYTH. 
  38. ^ Mendham, Scott. "Alt.net: Cracking Up" PC World (December 1999)
  39. ^ The Dark Art of Cracking by Vinod Unny, PCQuest (magazine), March 1999.
  40. ^ Software Pirate Guilty of Copyright Infringement Under NET Act (May 15, 2001)
  41. ^ "OrlyDB.com search result". http://orlydb.com/?q=projectx.  Site name is based on the O RLY? Internet phenomenon.
  42. ^ "Justice Department Announces International Internet Piracy Sweep". Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Justice. 2004-04-22. http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/fastlink.htm. Retrieved 2010-02-02. 
  43. ^ "Interview with BonethuG & N0fX". 1996-09-27. http://www.mp3scene.info/files/view/affinity-5-interview-with-n0fx-and-bonethug-rns/. Retrieved 2011-04-05. "Interviewed: N0Fx, BonethuG, Position: RNS Prez/Co-Prez. "Rabid Neurosis was founded on June 6, 1996 to be exact"" 
  44. ^ Warez Wars - Articles - David McCandless - Writer
  45. ^ Windows Media Player sound files 'edited with warez' | Reg Developer
  46. ^ Microsoft Caught Out || kuro5hin.org
  47. ^ History of RELOADED
  48. ^ Daniel (2008-11-03). "Spore cracked before its street date". http://gameviper.com/pc/spore-cracked-by-reloaded-group. 
  49. ^ "Spore-RELOADED". NFOHump. 2008-09-02. http://nfohump.com/index.php?switchto=nfos&menu=quicknav&item=viewnfo&id=127807. 
  50. ^ "The.Sims.3-RELOADED". NFOHump. 2009-05-18. http://nfohump.com/index.php?switchto=nfos&menu=quicknav&item=viewnfo&id=140013. 
  51. ^ "Assassins.Creed-RELOADED". NFOHump. 2008-02-29. http://nfohump.com/index.php?switchto=nfos&menu=quicknav&item=viewnfo&id=122515. 
  52. ^ "Assassins.Creed.REPACK-RELOADED". NFOHump. 2008-04-08. http://nfohump.com/index.php?switchto=nfos&menu=quicknav&item=viewnfo&id=123249. 
  53. ^ [5]
  54. ^ The group history
  55. ^ http://www.defacto2.net/waybackweb/SCENELINK-from-1998-june-25/
  56. ^ http://www.infoaddict.com/skid-row-hackers-defeat-ubisoft-drm-100
  57. ^ "Standard Rip Rules (S.R.R)". 2004-03-05. http://www.defacto2.net/file/detail/a32d35. 
  58. ^ Tristar and Red Sector Incorporated
  59. ^ TRSI's website
  60. ^ United Software Association
  61. ^ Ohio Man Pleads Guilty to Copyright Infringement.

References


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