Private Tracker Ratio Hacking - Busted Myth? Or Reality?
August 11, 08 by sharky 7,814 views[DISCLAIMER] — The purpose of this article is not aimed to teach people how to hack their ratios on private trackers. A simple Google search will provide much more information than what is written here. We do not condone nor recommend doing this. Not only will you quite possibly jeopardize your account, but more importantly it’s discernibly negative for filesharing in general. It is selfish and slows down speeds for other users, not to mention a gamut of other baneful side effects. It is with our utmost sincerity when we say we hope that everyone who cheats gets caught and banned.
With this article we bring forth awareness, and probably from what you’ll read - deterrence. Is that because ratio hacking on private trackers doesn’t work? No, it’s not that. It works TOO well - the results from our testing were obscenely lop-sided and so blatantly obvious that they’d be impossible for tracker staff to ignore - if they were looking, that is.
Only a fool would ever try to hack a ratio on a private tracker that you cared to keep - upper-echelon sites such as ScT, TL (and an enormous list of others) have scripts to look for this sort of activity, and there’s no second chances for members who get caught. Although we generated some amazingly eye-popping ratios, you’ll likely get busted, and as they say, "it’s Bye Bye Kansas". These were not the trackers we chose to use for testing.
The Source
We didn’t do any Google searching to find modded/hacked BitTorrent clients - we didn’t have to. We turned to the true authority on this - http://www.sb-innovation.de. They cover almost everything hacked, from eMule leechermods to One-Click Hosters to a wide assortment of BitTorrent clients (µTorrent, Azureus, BitTorrent™, BitComet).
The Clients We Tested
For our testing, we chose to use:
— uTorrent 1.8 RC2 SBI Leecherpack (which contains 19 different modded µTorrent 1.8 clients that cover a variety of desired results). Some of these we tested; others we did not.
— uTraitor v3.1 SBI (Vista Compatible) - Contains 4 uTorrent clients:
- uTraitor Stealth (no download and upload report. Not shown in peerlist and no snatchlist entry).
- uTraitor Stealth v2 (no download and upload report. Not shown in peerlist and no snatchlist entry). Coded in a different way.
- uTraitor No Report (no download and upload report. Works on all trackers and no snatchlist entry).
- uTraitor Download as Upload (Reports Download as Upload and doesn’t affect ratio. No snatchlist entry). - We tested this one.
Test Results:
To generate accurate results we needed to eliminate certain variables that could affect the outcome. For this, we chose to sign up to 3 brand-new private tracker accounts. Also, we only downloaded one torrent from each tracker, and ran them in 3 different ‘hacked’ BT clients. We also needed to select "non-freeleech" torrents to assure there’d be accurate data being recorded to the tracker (in both directions). After letting them run for 3 consecutive days, here are the results:
Test Tracker #1 - Pretome
For Pretome, we started out modestly with a "FakeUp" µTorrent client, and generated some decent ‘fake’ upload rates on the account. This could have been much higher if there were more leechers on Pretome - it’s not easy to spoof upload data on a FakeUp client when there’s little or no traffic on the torrent. However, we managed to generate a respectable 9.78 GB upload, when in actuality we only uploaded 334 MBs in the client. Our new "ratio" on the account sits at 2.135 - definitely not high enough to arouse too many suspicions.
Test Tracker #2 - Ozone-Porn
With Ozone-Porn we decided to be a little more aggressive, so we opted for a "Multi" client from the µTorrent SBI Leecherpack. Our download was not recorded by the tracker, and the upload was reported at 13.96 GBs (when in fact it was only 138 MB). Obviously this would raise some serious eyebrows in the event that they were looking for unbalanced accounts, especially since we only ran one torrent.
Test Tracker #3 - TorrentZilla
TZ was a great candidate for this, since there’s a substantial number of leechers on most of their torrents. Unfortunately it worked a little TOO well, as you can see for yourself. Again, we ran just one torrent, and somehow managed to get almost 322 GB uploaded on the tracker, when it fact it was a mere 2.87 GB. Such a ridiculously lop-sided ratio would most certainly sound the alarm bells, had they been looking.
Anonymous BitTorrent with "No Report" / Stealth Clients
As a side note, there is also an option to use a "stealth" client - a hacked version of µTorrent - that doesn’t report your IP address to the tracker (i.e. "no report"). While your ratio will be a "wash" (0:0) on the torrent, the implementations for anonymity are exceedingly positive, especially since there are IFPI/MPAA/RIAA spies logging the IP stats of nearly every popular public torrent. We wouldn’t endorse using a stealth BitTorrent client on private trackers; however, it’s not a bad idea for public sites such as mininova, thepiratebay, Isohunt. Especially when used congruently with IP blocklisting such as PeerGuardian.
Look for No Report/Stealth uTorrent clients contained within these packages:
— uTorrent Expansion SBI Leecherpack v5 (based on uTorrent 1.7.7)
— SB-I Faze Mod - A multi-client BT with changeable fake-upload and stealth mode:
[LAST WORDS] — While after 4 days of running hacked BitTorrent clients, we were not banned by any of the trackers (yet). Having said that, anyone with even the slightest iota of common sense should not attempt to hack their ratio on a private tracker. Sooner or later you’ll get caught, and it’s a known fact that many trackers are connected to each other. Try this on one account and you may find yourself banned from other trackers that you never cheated on. Is it worth the risk? No way. Ratios are imposed to prolong the health of a torrent and the tracker. Get yourself a seedbox and do it honestly.
01 • Someone Says: 11.08.08 at 12:40 pm
So easy uhh
02 • Someone Says: 11.08.08 at 12:43 pm
Whtz gonna happen if i try this on TL or some other site lyk tht
03 • weaana Says: 11.08.08 at 12:55 pm
sharky,
oh man
thanks for the moving article
i moved to google after this
inventing the best ways to cheat
to be the best cheater
thanks a lot for bring out the cheater in me and everyone
hope it helps the bittorrent community
04 • ZTP Says: 11.08.08 at 2:43 pm
And ur even linking to a password protected site? Ever hear of *sharing* on BT?
Remove this article.
05 • me Says: 11.08.08 at 2:52 pm
password for the rar?
06 • dumbo Says: 11.08.08 at 6:44 pm
Good Job, but if every1 becomes a cheater, who will genuinely do P2P uploads?????????
07 • a/s/l Says: 12.08.08 at 3:06 am
08 • Azka Says: 12.08.08 at 5:00 am
I did not understand anything
Can anyone help me ?
09 • Faster Says: 12.08.08 at 9:13 am
Not password protected, you need only to register, then you have the newest and best leecher mods of the worlds for free download
Very easy
010 • Faster Says: 12.08.08 at 9:17 am
And by the way: Newest utorrent leecher is released with the last utorrent build –> http://www.sb-innovation.de/f43/utorrent-expansion-sbi-leecherpack-v6-based-utorrent-1-8-a-5083/
Have fun
011 • borley Says: 12.08.08 at 2:20 pm
I found you lover
snakeoil, lofl
012 • BigD Says: 12.08.08 at 2:21 pm
Hey there, anyone else from any of the other trackers, look for a user name snakeoil, as he used on Pretome. A message to anyone else, this isnt tolerated, and to be tested by these people was a joke. We as well have a anti cheat system, if he wasnt the last leecher on the torrent, then he may have gotten away with it…..
Thank you for trying sharky
013 • skidi Says: 12.08.08 at 4:26 pm
Download Ratiomast3r if you want to ch3at on BitTorrent trackers like SceneT_o_rrents, Sc3neAccess and TorrentLe_ech. I laught at all those people that are paying money to keep their ratio.
014 • SnakeOil Says: 12.08.08 at 4:38 pm
@Borley @ BIGD - Give yourselves a big pat on the back for the sleuthing. If I’d really cared about the username being discovered, I would have left the torrents running, and edited the actual ratio. It certainly must have been easy for you since the ratio there is in plain sight, and is unchanged even now. The “SnakeOil” bit was a username I used exclusively for these tests, as was the IP address - you’ll not see it nor the SnakeOil username anywhere else, aside from the trackers that I used to conduct these tests.
015 • Cheats Says: 12.08.08 at 6:27 pm
Cheating on all private trackers has been going on since their creation. There are more users cheating than one might think. A good cheater using a good program wont get caught. And the biggest cheaters are right under most staffs noses…Sitting in the IRC channels.
016 • borley Says: 13.08.08 at 1:39 pm
Yeah, we have scripts that catch cheaters, but for people cheating at amounts which accumulate as slowly as you did, they must be manually processed. This is to avoid prosecuting users who may have missed announces due to an unclean shutdown or other mitigating factor.
IMO its been known for quite a while now that it is in fact possible to cheat on EVERY site. Yes…it is. However, similar to the real world, the way you combat crime is to provide incentives for criminals (cheaters) to not commit a crime. ie Jail time, fines, or in the torrent world to take away statistics or your account.
I feel its good you let it be known that things like this are going on, not so much so others can try, but instead so that users collectively can be made aware of the methods of cheating. And so they can make informed conclusions about other members of their own used trackers so that policing can be handled more by the community as a whole and less by a few lone staffers.
PS. I found you in good fun. Made the SnakeOil connection immediately and had a good laugh.
Keep on keeping on broheim.
017 • Diji1 Says: 14.08.08 at 12:12 am
Some posters are having a major over-reaction to this article. Anyone with half an idea of what’s going on knows this can be done.
Hopefully this alerts some trackers to implement methods that will catch people using cheats - however, as pointed out there will probably always be methods to cheat that are impossible to catch.
018 • wut? Says: 14.08.08 at 8:30 am
Wut?
FSF hits a new low, teaching others how to ratio cheat…
019 • enter8 Says: 15.08.08 at 2:16 am
There’s not a chance in heck that ’stealth’ mode will provide any protection against the powers that be. I’m sure that it prevents your IP from showing up in the peers lists of the people in your swarm, but, if anyone were to check incoming/outgoing traffic with wireshark, your IP would most definitely show up there. If someone is really dumb enough to expect that the IFPI/MPAA/RIAA pulls IPs from the utorrent peers lists (and not their own proprietary app) they probably deserve to get caught.
And IP blacklisting is a total waste of time as well. IP monitoring agencies subscribe to services that change their IPs every few minutes. You can’t blacklist an IP that’s constantly changing.
Btw, if cheating is so wrong and so pointless, why devote an entire article to it?
020 • Andrew Says: 15.08.08 at 3:33 pm
Enter8 I suspect your from ZP also?
021 • LizardBoy Says: 29.08.08 at 10:24 am
Well if Private Tracker sites weren’t such anal, militant fascists about ratios in the first place users wouldn’t need to cheat.
Get rid of the bullshit ratio system and stop expecting users who for whatever reason can’t upload enough to donate to boost their ratio and you might just see a turn around of things.
Start expecting money and you get no sympathy from me for prosecutions.
022 • der Says: 15.09.08 at 4:18 pm
Fascists? lol the rules are there for a reason. it keeps the torrents alive for all the other anal fascists to download and seed. Perhaps you should just fuck off back to mininova fuckwit.
023 • Scheherez Says: 07.10.08 at 4:01 pm
Hey, the stuff on the private sites will all get leaked to mininova anyways, DER-SHIT! Where they will be SEEDED! And NO-ONE gets screwed OVER!
Just the fact that you mentioned mininova should serve as an example to you, shit-eater. RATIOS AREN’T NEEDED! Unless you can provide a NON-discriminatory way of the slower speeds to help seed and NOT be at the mercy of T1 Monsters, then get the hell of your high horse!
024 • Tony Says: 04.12.08 at 4:14 am
I have a very simple way that doesn’t involve a hacked torrent program. It hides 99 % of my downloads from showing. Only upload that i actually do upload shows up on my ratio
But i use it very sparingly. I upload all day while Im not home. I only do it because i have such crappy upload speed compared to download speed.
ps its a secret