List of warez groups

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article or section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.

This is an incomplete list of warez groups. Such groups typically tag their releases with NFO files. Due to the nature of the 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. For more general information about these groups, see the main article Warez.

Contents

[edit] Historical groups

These groups have existed for several years, or have already disbanded.

  • Australian Crackers United (also known as ACU)
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 Commodore Amiga games and applications. [1]
  • ARiSe
ARiSe is a one-time leading distributor of illegal files, music, and videos on America Online. Founded by EViL in the early 1990s, ARiSe catapulted to fame when a member by the alias of RajuAbju took over. Following RajuAbju's resignation in the mid- to late-90s, the group took a downward spiral and eventually broke up.
  • 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. Bentley Sidwell Productions' history
  • Canadian Pirates Inc
Canadian Pirates Inc were a Toronto, Ontario based cracking group started in 1987 releasing Apple products.[citation needed] The group history
  • 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. The group history
DrinkOrDie released a pirated copy of Windows 95 before it was released at retail stores. They were subject to a raid in Operation Buccaneer. [2]
  • 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. [1]
  • 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. The group history
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.[3]
  • National Elite Underground Alliance (also known as NEUA)
National Elite Underground Alliance was an IBM PC warez release organization largely based out of New York which operated during the early 1990s.[4]
PARADOX was founded in 1989, mainly cracking/release games for the Amiga. They have since spread to the PC and other consoles. They are one of the major warez groups still around today.
Pirates With Attitude 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. [5]
  • Quartex
Notable Amiga cracking group.
  • Radium (also known as RDM)
Radium 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. [6] 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. [7] [8]
Radium was disbanded in 2001 to avoid the BSA, who had them listed as their "number one target." Since then, attempts have been made to restart the group.[citation needed]
Razor 1911 was founded in 1985 on the Commodore 64 but also had a major presence on the Commodore Amiga and the IBM PC. They were subject to raid in Operation Buccaneer and Operation Fastlink. Since July 2006, they have started releasing games again. [2]
  • T34M !NV!5!613 (also known as Team Invisible)
T34M !NV!5!613 is primarily based internationally. T34M !NV!5!613 has over 70 members. They existed between 2000 and still exist today. They focused on releasing and distributing major Motion Picture movies in high quality before/during theater release dates and with Major record label music releases that are advanced copies/editorial copies and general retail versions of music cd(s) copies. This group has members in South Korea, The United States of America, Japan, Australia, The United Kingdom, France, Italy, Norway, Mexico, Canada, Argentina, Africa.
The Dream Team was active between 1989 and 1996.
A late 1980s, early 1990s, games release group. [9]
The Humble Guys were the first warez group to make use of NFO files to document their releases. [10]
TRSI began as an alliance between two warez groups: Tristar and Red Sector, Inc. 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. [11] In late 2003, TRSI became inactive and remains so today. [12]
  • The Arab Mafia (also known as TAM)
TAM was founded in 1991 The Arab Mafia cracking/release Application, PC games, DVDRip Movies, and Templates.
The United Software Association 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. [13]

[edit] Application (ISO) groups

RiSE
FXP Scene Group focuses on warezing applications developed by members of The Business Software Alliance.[citation needed] [3]
RogueWarriorz (RWZ)
Twelve "Operation Bandwidth" Software Pirates Enter into Group Guilty Plea
We Love Warez (WLW)
WLW was subject to raid during Operation Buccaneer, Operation Fastlink, and Operation Safehaven. Ohio Man Pleads Guilty to Copyright Infringement.
The Bitter End (TBE)
TBE is one of the leading Industry Application (CAD/CAM) Cracking group in the scene.
Clan 2k-1 (2k-1)
A old warez clan on IRC back when Dalnet allowed it. Even had a special IRC script and a secret server loaded with software. When Dalnet started to pounce on warez they disbanded and most have moved on and a matter of fact most have stopped their pirating days.

[edit] Cracking groups

Groups are either WWW crackteams or "0day" (scene groups)

  • WWW Crackteams


  • ALIEN Hack Team (AHTeam)

The official site: http://ahteam.org/eng/

  • Arab Hackers & Crackers Union (AHCU)

http://dvd4arab.com/forumdisplay.php?f=699

  • ARAB TEAM 4 REVERSE ENGINEERING (AT4RE)

A new cracking team , formed in 2007 by allko,dj-siba and MouradPR. They have published an educating book about RE in arabic. The official site: http://www.at4re.com

  • ENFUSiA

ENFUSiA 0day cracker team formed in 2001 most member of the group is hungarian. ENFXViD is the movie release part and FNEMP3 is the mp3 release part of ENFUSiA.

  • Extreme Team

The official site: http://www.extremeteam.bravehost.com

  • Fighting For Fun (FFF]

Fighting For Fun Team is a French Web Group still alive, with more than 10000 releases. Group was formed in April 2002. The official site: www.zor.org/fighting

  • FiGHT ONLY 4 FREEDOM (FOFF)

The official site: http://foff.astalavista.ms

  • Independent Crackers Union (ICU)

The official site: http://www.teamicu.org

Phrozen Crew was founded in 1993 as a one of the first software cracking groups by the Keyboard Caper (tKC).[citation needed] Phrozen Crew received much public scrutiny.[citation needed] Although not as active as they were in the mid to late 1990s Phrozen Crew is still alive as of 2006.[citation needed]

The official site: http://www.phrozencrew.net

  • REVENGE Crew (REV)

The official site: http://www.revenge-crew.com

Seek n Destroy is a web based "crack" team. The team was born early January of 2003 by Punk!Dude and Cektop. The official Seek n Destroy birthday is 7th January after the first release (a keygen) by Punk!Dude. The official site: http://snd.astalavista.ms

  • TEAM RESURRECTiON (RES]

Team launched August 1st, 2004 and is still alive and kicking today. The official site: http://appznet.biz/Best/index.php

  • The Power Of Reversing Team (tPORt)

The official site: http://tport.org & http://tport.astalavista.ms

  • The Reverser's Ultimate Epidemic (tRUE)
'The Reverser's Ultimate Epidemic' was founded in 2007 by Sancho. after 4 months they obtains a disto maintained by xes what has to strongly help to propelled the team, has this day this team starts done speak about it.

Official site: http://www.lastepidemic.net

  • TSRh TeaM (TSRH)
Team "The Sabotage Rebellion hackers" was founded in 1999 by B-$hep and OxEn. After 6 year, the team has over 10 000 releases.

The official site: http://tsrh.org.ua

  • Scene groups
  • Challenge of Reverse Engineering (CORE)
Known for their amazingly small ASCII videos and high quality keygens.
  • Nulled Scriptz (NS)
Best known for the nulling/decoding of PHP scripts, though they also crack webmaster related tools. Founded in 2001 and getting bigger everyday. The team now has over 3000 releases and more to come.

The Official Site: http://www.nulledscriptz.com

  • Zero Waiting Time (ZWT)
Zero Waiting Time was founded in 1998 by group leader ygeR.[citation needed][citation needed] The keygens released by ZWT usually contain "oldschool" tracker music and detailed artwork.[citation needed] As of June 2007 ZWT is still operating.


  • Revolutionary Law Army (RLA)
Best known for bruteforcing, cracking, and technology resources. RLA has over 150 members world wide.

[edit] PC games groups

  • CLASS (also known as CLS)
Class 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.[citation needed] Class was notorious for releasing a game, followed by a "fix" release to fix problems with running the cracked game.[citation needed] Technically defunct but occasionally making releases (they supposedly stopped after their 1,234'th release).[citation needed]
  • DEViANCE
Subject to raid in Operation Fastlink. Many members are now releasing under the group name HATRED.[citation needed]
One of the oldest groups in warez scene, founded in 1987, and still active.[citation needed] Fairlight was subject to raid in Operation Fastlink, which almost killed their ISO division.[citation needed] Their Demoscene division was not affected by the raid. Group NFO after the bust.
  • Hoodlum
Hoodlum mainly focused on cracking Safedisc and Securom.[citation needed] Released Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. [4] Targeted as part of Operation Site Down raids in 2005. [5] Group history.
Major game release group, formerly one of the biggest in the scene.[citation needed]
  • ViTALiTY
Major game release group, recently banned from The Scene Group NFO after the ban
  • HATRED
Major game release group, DEViANCE offspring.

[edit] Console games groups

Echelon
Echelon is a warez group which specializes in the release and distribution of console games, such as Dreamcast ISOs.[14] Between September 4, 2000 and April 30, 2002 they released 188 games and 34 other various fixes, tutorials, trainers, and loaders.[citation needed]
Eurasia
Eurasia was a warez group which specialized in the release and distribution of console and hand held games, primarily Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance.[citation needed]
Kalisto
Kalisto is a warez group which specializes in the release and distribution of console games, predominantly PlayStation and PlayStation 2.[citation needed]

[edit] Courier groups

TUS

Releases Telesync movies in the KVCD format.

Motiv8 (M8)
Motiv8 was born in early 1991 in the Commodore 64 Scene as a Demo/Release group. In 1994, lead 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. The group history and member list.
Rise in Superior Couriering (RiSC)
RiSC was one of the largest courier groups during BBS era. Targeted as part of Operation Site Down raids in 2005 and Operation Jolly Roger (Which targeted RiSCiSO) raids of 2006. [6]
MiRaGe (MrG)
MiRaGe 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.
Request To Send (RTS)
RTS is one of the oldest still existing courier groups. The group began est. 1994, still active currently (13/01/08). 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.
The Cartel (ThC)
The Cartel was a courier group that gave rise to The Speed Racer (TSR) as head of Razor 1911 in the early 1990s.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ BitWorld - Amiga
  2. ^ DrinkOrDie
  3. ^ International Network of Crackers
  4. ^ NEUA
  5. ^ Software Pirate Guilty of Copyright Infringement Under NET Act (May 15, 2001)
  6. ^ Warez Wars - Articles - David McCandless - Writer
  7. ^ Windows Media Player sound files 'edited with warez' | Reg Developer
  8. ^ Microsoft Caught Out || kuro5hin.org
  9. ^ The Dream Team (warez)
  10. ^ The Humble Guys
  11. ^ Tristar and Red Sector Incorporated
  12. ^ TRSI's website
  13. ^ United Software Association
  14. ^ Dreamcast NFOs at nforce.nl

[edit] References