The download was suspiciously fast. A file named OfficeGen2016.exe appeared. He double-clicked. A command prompt window flashed, then vanished. No generator. No keys. Just silence.
He slammed his laptop shut, but the damage was done. He spent the next six hours with IT support at his university, watching them wipe his hard drive. The term paper was lost. He had to beg his professor for an extension, confessing the embarrassing truth.
“Threat detected: Trojan.Emotet”
Desperation drove him to a dark corner of the internet. He typed into a search bar: “Microsoft Office 2016 Product Key Generator free download.”