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Can you tell excel sheets which were created using a pirated version of MS Office? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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My friend works for a company which requires her to use Microsoft specific application, she didn't really want to switch to Win 11 and choose to just use Wine Linux package and install a 2016 version of MS office on her Linux laptop. That's all well and good, but this company she is working for servers other clients at pretty high up places and she is terrified that she using the pirated version of MS would create a liability for her company as if Microsoft wants to target pirated software, they hunt for organisations rather than individuals.

So, what should she do? Is there a way you can hide the fact that the excel sheet was created on pirated software, is it even possible to tell excel sheets apart which are using pirated software?

PS: If there is a way to destroy all metadata related to the excel sheets, it would be very helpful.

edit: Thanks to everyone who chipped in for an answer, gonna suggest her to either ask her employer to give her the necessary software + hardware and if denied quit. I now realize this is not the norm in any company but hers. Anyways, thanks everyone.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I don't think so, unless the pirate left a calling card. If you want to make sure, just make the same sheet in pirated and non pirated versions, and compare the file. (They are zip archives, so that will let you see the raw XML)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Software cracks leaving a calling card isn't unheard of. Companies before have been caught out before with names of cracking groups showing up in their files.

Edit: found the article I was thinking of. Turns out it was Microsoft themselves!

http://www.techpavan.com/2009/05/24/microsoft-deepz0ne-pirated-cracked-sound-forge-windows-xp-audio/