Dangers of using a "craked" theme?

the.spike

Power Member

Dec 13, 2010

505

150

• Oct 24, 2013

• #1

I want to use a theme for a new site that i cant afford right now. I found it on thepiratebay, and i was wondering what are the dangers of using the cracked one? If the owner of the theme would find my site, could he tell that i was using a pirated theme? Also could he take any legal action against me?

 

AquaticGamer

Elite Member

Jr. VIP

Apr 13, 2013

8,294

2,803

• Oct 24, 2013

• #2

Legal action is a possible thing however if you get caught DMCA might ask your hosting to take down your website but if you use a off-shore hosting then you should be good to go.

 

boomboomer

Power Member

Feb 7, 2008

562

885

• Oct 24, 2013

• #3

You probably should be more worried about your site getting hacked. Pirated themes are usually infected with backdoors to let hackers in.

 

S

srinu0812

Supreme Member

Nov 1, 2012

1,308

764

• Oct 24, 2013

• #4

Read this : http://www.shoutmeloud.com/how-hacked-wordpress-premium-theme-harms-your-blog.html

Your website won't be secure and is open to all sort of risks. Better buy one.

 

A

Aussie

Junior Member

Nov 8, 2007

130

17

• Oct 24, 2013

• #5

Also take care that it has no link injected or gets injected in future. I would advise to buy it if you are building any serious site.

 

GiorgioB

Supreme Member

Feb 28, 2012

1,288

1,332

• Oct 24, 2013

• #6

I once installed a cracked theme on one of my servers. 2 months later I received a couple of emails from banks saying this:


We have detected a fraudulent phishing page on a website which includes your email address as a point of contact. If you are not responsible for the website below, please forward this email to the responsible party.

Our client, PNC Financial Services, requests that the page be disabled immediately.

Domain: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Suspect URL: hxxp://xxxxxxxxxxx/wp-includes/js/tinymce/pnc/index[.]html
IP address: xxxxxxxxxx

We ask that, if possible, you can redirect all traffic to the phishing URL above to the Anti-Phishing Working Group's User Education page located at: http://education.apwg.org/r/en/index.htm This page will help users identify phishing attacks and provide them with further resources to better protect themselves online.
Information about implementation of the User Education page can be found here:
http://education.apwg.org/r/how_to.html


So yeah.. I'd say be very careful with what you upload to your servers.

 

divok

Senior Member

Jul 21, 2010

1,071

656

• Oct 24, 2013

• #7

I was once using a cracked theme and my entire site was being copied to a subdomain , That subdomain was ranking higher than my website.I later found out all subdomains on that website were generating content through that cracked themes . (it was a wp theme)

 

fakepics50

Regular Member

Feb 27, 2011

304

135

• Oct 24, 2013

• #8

check this thread there few tools for detecting hacked themes
http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackh...78-amazing-tools-detecting-hacked-themes.html

 

A

AboveAll

Regular Member

Apr 27, 2010

224

87

• Oct 24, 2013

• #9

A big no-no for cracked themes. Better install a free theme, develop your site, and once you had the money from profit invest in a licensed theme. Also you will get regular updates for your theme which is crucial. Most of the pirated themes does contain malicious code in them which may hurt you a lot. Don't risk!

 

ardley216

Elite Member

Mar 28, 2008

2,389

2,418

• Oct 24, 2013

• #10

Never take a cracked/nulled theme from a place you don't trust. You get hacked.

I usually take themes from here or some other reputable places. Often if I like the theme and the website is making money, buying it is a good idea

 

Duffers5000

Elite Member

Apr 1, 2012

2,477

7,772

• Oct 24, 2013

• #11

Theres plenty of good cracked themes that get shared here all the time. If you dont know the sharer then dont download it. If you have any doubt then you can scan a theme for malware.