Malwarebytes is extending an olive branch to software pirates as it tries to banish bogus licenses from its system.

The company’s Amnesty program flags potentially pirated versions of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium, and offers a legitimate year’s subscription (normally $25) in exchange. Legitimate users who’ve been mistakenly flagged as pirates can also ask for a longer subscription–or even a lifetime license–to match their original purchase.

As Malwarebytes CEO Marcin Kleczynski explained in the company’s forums, many years ago the company made the mistake of using an insecure licensing key algorithm. This made it easy for pirates to generate their own keys, and for unscrupulous vendors to sell false licenses. As Malwarebytes’ user base has grown, this has led to bogus keys overlapping with legitimate ones.

SOURCE: channelworld.in