Why IDA Pro isn't cracked?

[hullboy]

I don't see so many cracked versions of IDA Pro (now I think they are at version 6.0) so I am wondering if that is casual or if it is due to a sort of "gentlemen's agreement" between crackers and one of their tools to crack it.

The third option would be that it is almost impossible to crack.

The fourth is that is useless to crack v. 6.0 since v. 5.2 (that can be found cracked) works better :s

[ben01]

Perhaps because olly can do a great job, and it's free ?

[shajt]

Perhaps because olly can do a great job, and it's free ?

:thumbsup:

[hullboy]

Well, Tonyblair uses Ida so that means that Ida is not so useless B)

[x3r0]

The answer you're looking for can be found on the Chris Eagle's book - The IDA Pro Book.

In this book he explained why IDA are rarely distributed on "the scene". Here's I quoted why:

IDA Licenses

Two licensing options are available when you purchase IDA. From the Hex-Rays website:[23] "Named licenses are linked to a specific end-user and may be used on as many computers as that particular end-user uses," while "Computer licenses are linked to a specific computer and may be used by different end-users on that computer provided only one user is active at any time." Note that while a single named license entitles you to install the software on as many computers as you like, you are the only person who may run those copies of IDA, and, for a single license, IDA may be running on only one of those computers at any given time.

Purchasing IDA

You can purchase IDA through authorized distributors listed on the IDA sales web page or directly from Hex-Rays by fax or email. Purchased copies can be delivered via CD or downloaded, and they also entitle the buyer to a year of support and upgrades. In addition to the IDA installer, the CD distribution contains a variety of extras such as the Linux and OS X versions of IDA along with the IDA SDK and other utilities. Users who opt to download their purchased copy of IDA typically receive only the installer executable and are required to download other components separately.

Hex-Rays has been known to restrict sales to specific countries based on its experiences with piracy in those countries. It also maintains a blacklist of users who have violated the terms of licensing for IDA and may refuse to do business with such users and/or their employers.

I hope these can answer your curiosity...

[hullboy]

Thanks :)