It is a no-brainer that the use of nulled scripts or downloading software from sources other than the original website of that software, will put you straightforward under the risk of being hacked, because you will not know what types of manipulation has been made to this particular script or software by the shady source from where it's been downloaded.
We do use some of the advanced software and antivirus programs in our shared and business hosting platforms to combat the effects of the nulled scripts that get uploaded to our servers each day, such as BitNinja which provides realtime scanning and quarantine of files that contain malware, and CageFS which isolates every single account in the shared server in its own virtual environment, this way if user X account gets hacked and malware was uploaded, it will not spread to the rest of the server and it will not affect other users.
Despite this, there are still a lot of consequences for using nulled and pirated software, some of these include but not limited to:
Hacking:
Getting hacked due to a backdoor exploit being put in the nulled script. If you need to remember one thing from this article, it should be this: Nulled scripts can greatly compromise the security of your website.
Hackers are able to do whatever they want with a nulled product, and this often means inserting malicious code — spammy links, redirects to dubious websites, a backdoor that grants unauthorized access to your data, or malware that could steal confidential information or even crash your entire site. The possibilities are virtually endless, and not in a good way.
Plus, good luck finding these issues yourself if you opt for a nulled product. While malware scans can detect some harmful code, there’s always a chance you’ll miss something crucial among the files. Hackers know how to disguise malware in such a way that it likely won’t be detected, and you may not realize the damage until it’s too late.
Spreading Malware:
Infecting other clean files with malware, for example, you may have a well established and successful WordPress site, and one day you decide to install a nulled plugin or theme, but you aren't aware that a malware has been hidden in it, so once you upload and activate it, you will execute that malware and it spreads to the other clean plugins and files in your hosting account.
Dropping SEO and Blacklisting:
Using nulled scripts results in sites being hacked > which results in malware code being injected into these sites > which results in this code being executed in the browsers of the visitors > resulting in users reporting the site > eventually search engines and web browsers flag your domain as risky and possible banning it from being accessed ... You get the picture now?
No Support and No Updates:
When you use a nulled script, you will be missing out on support and immediate updates for it. What if the developer releases an urgent security fix to this script, but you don’t get the memo until a few weeks later? Out-of-date extensions are a big attack vector for WordPress sites, so you’re leaving your site open to unnecessary risk if you’re not able to promptly apply new updates.
The above are just some examples of general consequences of using nulled scripts. With that been said, we will now walk you through the consequences of uploading nulled and pirated software into our shared or business hosting plans.
The first starting point, is that you should understand that by using nulled or pirated scripts, you are in a gross violation of the general Terms of Service (Section 7) of our agreement with you, which can lead to permanently banning you from any further use of the service without compensation or refunds!
From a technical perspective, when you upload a nulled a malware-containing script to one of our shared or business plans, our antivirus software may block the files of this script and quarantine them, effectively breaking the functionality of this script. This cannot be prevented and no exceptions will be made. Once we detect that some of the files that you upload to the hosting account are infected, they will immediately be blocked and quarantined, and you may be hit with a warning notice to remove these files, to which your full cooperation will be expected. In some cases, and if we feel that your actions have put the servers in great endangerment, your account will get immediately suspended or terminated permanently and without any prior notice or compensations.
Lastly, we would like to emphasize that the services we offer, are made available to help you achieve success in your projects, so we expect you to maintain responsible use of the service offered to you.
