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Flight Sims Labs produces add-ons to the popular Flight Simulator product from Microsoft. In a recent DRM add-on, they shipped an executable test.exe that compares your serial number to see if it authentic. If the serial number is found to not be authentic, it extracts passwords stored in Chrome and sends it to them. I wouldn't be surprised if this is even sent as clear text as it is likely they have no concern for security in this situation.

If such a specific serial number is used by a pirate (a person who has illegally obtained our software) and the installer verifies this against the pirate serial numbers stored in our server database, it takes specific measures to alert us… That program is only extracted temporarily and is never under any circumstances used in legitimate copies of the product. The only reason why this file would be detected after the installation completes is only if it was used with a pirated serial number (not blacklisted numbers).

This method has already successfully provided information that we’re going to use in our ongoing legal battles against such criminals.

They argue that no legitimate user would be affected by this but fail to understand the significance of this. This act violates computer activity laws and should be punishable with jail time. It doesn't matter if a user stole a product or not, there is no guarantee the product is even stolen, many gamers use stolen copies of games they own because they are sick of using a cd, although in this case, I doubt that is an issue as it is an add-on product.

Even if stealing passwords from pirates was legal and even welcomed practice, the likelihood of sensitive information being stolen from innocent people is extremely high. Kids using their parent's computers or even a shared computer in a family's home.

This practice is illegal, immoral, and unethical regardless how justified they feel against a user stealing their product.