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?
Not at all. I work with development of various kinds and have my desk close to our senior it security specialist he says that we get daily that kind of stuff in our emails so I don’t see why they should exist less on pirated torrents