Bypassing Microsoft Office 2010 Activation at work... - General Security Discussions

Mr. P-teo

So my boss is a real tight arse, wasn't going to buy a business license and told me i have to find a copy of Office 2010 for free, but im only allowed to use our copy (which has been used to many times). So playing around i noticed that if i disconnect from the internet im still able to use Word, even after i close the activation window and this got me thinking "can i block just the word/office server etc."

So i knew what i was going to do, time to crack open Wireshark and get listening in on what connections are being made and sure enough on startup of Word a connection is being made to a domain by the name of office14.microsoft.com...

So i know what it was connecting to, just have to block the connection. And oh joys, windows Hosts file. A simple line of text containing the IP and that domain and we are all good. After a quick restart Word was fully working. The only issue what it prompts the user to activate we just close that window and keep using.

So that was my little security bypassing story. Good day.

m0rph

You should tell your boss about this. Maybe he'll give you brownie points for saving money for future licenses! Good job Mr. P-teo! Did he have any quarrels with you using wireshark at work? Or was this hush-hush? ;)

Mr. P-teo

Tbh he was alright with it, he isn't very computer savy and so doesn't ask many questions.

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