[sytelus]

Nope... If his target audience was supposed to be average consumer then may be this will be an interesting move. But looks like his target audience is sufficiently sophisticated users. Those people will now realize that it is actually much easier to crack the trial software by themselves instead of getting from elsewhere. BTW, this software cost couple of grands PER user PER year. However I remain to be skeptical who wants this thing because (1) it requires social engineering and (2) there are much better and powerful and safer open source alternatives to run exploits.

[raffi]

(1) Social engineering is a key component of several high profile intrusions that happen today. The best way to help an organization understand their ability to detect, mitigate, and/or contain this type of attack is to do it.

https://www.google.com/#q=phishing&tbm=nws

(1a) Statements, such as "it requires social engineering" [it's not a valid vector] represent a dated understanding of hacker tactics and part of my work is to help folks with your view move their understanding forward. Usually the conversation is not a response to an adversarial comment like yours.

Here are a few talks/papers that I recommend:

http://blog.strategiccyber.com/2012/12/19/hacking-like-apt/

(2) Cobalt Strike builds on something called the Metasploit Framework. The Metasploit Framework is the largest open source collection of safe exploits. My product addresses gaps in this kit for executing attacks that mimic those high profile intrusions mentioned a moment ago. A successful operation requires more than an email with something bad attached.

http://blog.strategiccyber.com/2013/01/14/tactics-to-hack-an...

(2a) Cobalt Strike's open source little sister is Armitage. A popular user interface and collaboration tool for the aforementioned "better and powerful and safer open source alternative to run exploits". I'm the developer of Armitage as well.

http://www.fastandeasyhacking.com/

[okso]

Encouraging people to crack it themselves instead of downloading a cracked version is an interesting educational move.

[ohashi]

That's fairly cheap relative to the competition. Software like Core Impact costs $40,000. MetaSploit Express (cheap version) is $5,000.

I'd love to hear what these better, more powerful, safer open source alternatives are though.