I understand that sharing video, photos, documents etc. is relatively safe because the data is not executed in the processor as instructions. How come people are willing to download and install pirated software though? How can one be confident that it does not contain malicious addons? Are people just don’t know the risks? Or are there protection mechanisms that I am missing? I mean since the software is usually cracked there is not much use in comparing checksums with the originals, is it?
I installed trusted cracks from scene groups. Not everyone who can crack will be a scene group. To get into the scene you need to be well trusted. Scene groups would NOT damage their integrity to install something malicious through a crack
As another user said, check the files you have match the direct uploads from the scene with a site like predb.me
You can search online for more info on scene groups/warez/topsites