Editing Keygen (section)

==Authors and distribution==
Unauthorized keygens that typically violate software licensing terms are written by programmers who engage in [[reverse engineering]] and [[software cracking]], often called ''crackers'', to circumvent [[copy protection]] of software or [[digital rights management]] for [[multimedia]]. Reverse engineering of software often involves disassembly of the software with a disassembler. The software is then analyzed and studied for its behavior. This reveals the algorithms or formulas used to verify the keys, which can then be used to create keys that will be accepted by the software, passing its verification process for the keys and activating the software, without obtaining a key from the software developer or publisher.

Keygens are available for download on [[warez]] sites or through [[peer-to-peer]] (P2P) networks.