I don't know how tech-inclined you are, but at first glance the crack goes through Goldberg Emulator - it emulates the Steam LAN/lobby feature. If you were to setup and configure a private VPN with friends (through openvpn, for example), and assuming there were all using a pirated version, it'd work fine.
I also suspect there must be more user friendly ways to open a remote "LAN" with friends available these days (transparently building a VPN), though I don't know them.
I don't know how tech-inclined you are, but at first glance the crack goes through Goldberg Emulator - it emulates the Steam LAN/lobby feature. If you were to setup and configure a private VPN with friends (through openvpn, for example), and assuming there were all using a pirated version, it'd work fine.
I also suspect there must be more user friendly ways to open a remote "LAN" with friends available these days (transparently building a VPN), though I don't know them.