What is a "crack"?

What is a "crack"?

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Within the computer security glossary, a "crack" is a small software application that will serialize a piece of commercial software. Software serialization is when you enter a serial number and that's what allows you to operate and use any software application that you've bought. Well, a crack is written to bypass the need to buy that piece of software, that's called software piracy. The hackers figure out this crack so that in someway it will make the software program think that you've entered a serial number so you can use it just as if you'd purchased it. Cracks that you use for serializing software obviously are not legal. The whole act of entering a serial number into a piece of software is that you've paid for it. You don't actually own software; you license it, and in licensing you get a serial number which is what allows you to use it. A crack bypasses your need to pay somebody for this copywritten material and this intellectual material that they've created. Therefore it's absolutely not legal whatsoever. In games, cracks are more often called "cheats", they're perfectly legal because you're not bypassing anything at all. You're simply learning information and picking up some tips and tricks that you didn't have before to get through certain levels. So with the two cracks, in video games they are certainly not a problem, but in software of course these cracks are absolutely against the law.