Saw this article , thought it might be of interest. I guess it was only a matter of time before the spyware mafia started embedding spyware in removal utilities...
KV
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Saw this article , thought it might be of interest. I guess it was only a matter of time before the spyware mafia started embedding spyware in removal utilities...
KV
Interesting, but it is not surprising. I had not heard of Spyban before this article but even if I had, I still would not have downloaded it. The only tools I use are Spybot, Ad-Aware and Spyware Blaster. These programs have been spoken of very highly by many people around here.
Good find, kv.
It's all about information gathering and money.
I wouldn't even trust Earthlink's spyware removal services because they are at a key position for gathering info from subscribers. As the article so well explained, Earthlink used their services for what else? To gather more information, of course!
MSNBC: Anti-spyware vendors come under fireInterest group complains about 'deceptive' marketing
Hrm.. not a fair statement.Quote:
Originally posted by oldhermit
I wouldn't even trust Earthlink's spyware removal services because they are at a key position for gathering info from subscribers. As the article so well explained, Earthlink used their services for what else? To gather more information, of course!
Nowhere in the article does it state they used it to gather information beyond what they informed the customer about. Earthlink states "EarthLink Spy Audit will list the spyware found on your PC. It will not harm or change your system in any way." And I ran it myself to see what a firewall would report - whether the little program would send back unauthorized packets. It didn't. It only took a few seconds to run and then it simply opened an Earthlink page that told me I had 0 Trojans, 0 System Monitors, 2 Adware & 29 Adware cookies. (I rarely use IE so this I don't much mind.) It doesn't give too much detail, but does seem to be an earnest program aimed at helping people, their customers and anyone else who cares to take a look, what's up with their net security. The programs (e.g. Spybot) and sites (e.g. Housecall) in common usage by people who frequent this site are far more in-depth scanning and protection, but there's no harm in taking a look.
http://www.earthlink.net/spyaudit/
I have never had any quarrel with Earthlink, and it's nice to see them do this. I have had quarrel with AOL, but I will say that at least they protect their customers by filtering out virus-laden emails as soon as they become aware of them, which is no doubt a help to the whole world.
Quote:
From Patrick Kolla, developer of Spybot S&D antispyware:
For the past two weeks, I got massive complaints from people who saw recommendations for Spybot-S&D on some TV show or heard about it on TV, and tried to go for it through the TV/radios website. Somehow, a bad link to Spybot-S&D is on its way and leading people to think that SpyHunter or SpyKiller would be the recommended Spybot-S&D. People downloading these two are forced to pay to remove spyware, and in the case of SpyKiller are even directed to us for support!
So my warning: please double-check what you've got before you pay anything!
Also, if you were mislead to SpyHunter or SpyKiller through Google AdWords, please contact Google. Google promised me some weeks ago they wouldn't do any more advertisement on my trademarked name "spybot", but I again receive complaints that they do, and this struggle with Google is going on for 4 months now.
Here's one I got from a www.techsupportalert.com News Letter.
Quote:
In the last issue I spoke of the clever tricks being used by the
latest generation of browser hijackers and other scumware
products.
Tricks to infect your computer just by visiting a web site and
equally cunning techniques to prevent you removing the products
once your PC has been infected.
Well, the programmers behind these thieving products have just
lifted their game and it's bad news for all.
The Spybot home page is currently carrying this warning:
"CoolWWWSearch.SmartKiller (v1 and v2) is a new, real ugly
variant of CoolWWWSearch. When running, it will close every
browser window you use to visit a large list of anti-spyware-
sites, and even will close Spybot-S&D and some other anti-
spyware applications as well."
So we are now in a new game. A game of cat and mouse between the
scumware merchants and the anti-scumware vendors like SpyBot.
A game where the scumware programmers will keep coming up with
new tricks to pull down and destroy products like SpyBot. A game
where the anti-spyware vendors will have to be continually
updating their products to protect them from being trashed by
the very scumware products they are designed to detect.
But there's even worse news: you can now get infected with
scumware just by running some anti-scumware software products.
No, not products like SpyBot and Ad-aware. They are the good
guys. The baddies are the dozens of pseudo spyware/adware
removers that are being sold or offered as "free downloads" that
actually contain scumware products or behave in a similar manner
to scumware.
Here's a list of these rogue products I got from
http://www.netrn.net/spywareblog/ Some are borderline
offenders, others quite flagrant: Spy Wiper, AdWare Remover
Gold, BPS Spyware Remover, Online PC-Fix, SpyFerret, SpyBan,
SpyBlast, SpyGone, SpyHunter, SpyKiller, SpyKiller Pro,
SpywareNuker, TZ Spyware-Adware Remover, xp-AntiSpy, SpyAssault,
InternetAntiSpy, Virtual Bouncer, AdProtector, SpyFerret,
SpyGone, and SpyAssault.
Now that's nasty; getting infected by the very products you've
installed to protect yourself. Kind of like getting pregnant
BECAUSE you used a contraceptive. ;>)
So what to do?
Without doubt, the most important thing you can do is to take
all action necessary to ensure you don't get infected in the
first place. Once infected, it's going to be increasingly
difficult in the future to remove the scumware from your PC.
So passive measures like disk scans with SpyBot are now second
priority. Much more important is active prevention.
As a start you should minimize your chance of infection by
fixing Windows vulnerabilities exploited by the scumware
merchants. Stay current with all the Windows patches by visiting
the Windows Update often. Better still, turn on automatic
update notification. And don't forget to update MS Office and
other software products on your PC. They can be exploited as
well.
Another preventative step is to ensure your browser settings are
safely configured. In Internet Explorer, select Tools/Internet
Options/Security and make sure the slider control is set to at
least "Medium." Then select "Custom” and set "Download signed
ActiveX controls" to Prompt, "Download unsigned ActiveX
controls" to Prompt or Disable and "Initialize and script
ActiveX controls marked as unsafe" to Disable. Hit OK and exit.
Next you check your browser's current vulnerability to known
exploits by running the security tests at these sites (Internet
Explorer and IE based browsers only):
http://browsercheck.qualys.com/ http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/
Prevention also means using the active anti-infection measures
offered in some anti-spyware products. Spybot has its
"inoculation" option. The paid version of Ad-aware has something
similar.
One of the very best anti-infection programs is a freeware
product called SpywareBlaster. It's not a scanner like SpyBot
but rather a stand-alone inoculation routine. It provides
protection against more than 1500 products that use ActiveX
based exploits. That's about three times as many products as
SpyBot's "inoculate."
A companion program to SpywareBlaster is SpywareGuard. Again,
this is not a file scanner like SpyBot. It is a protective
program that works like an anti-virus suite by checking programs
before they are executed.
Both SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard are quality freeware, are
regularly updated and have active support forums. They should
be on every PC. If you haven't got them, I strongly recommend
you download and install them at the first opportunity. Get
them here: http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
The next preventative step is to keep all your defenses current.
In this cat and mouse game you are already at a disadvantage
because the bad guys have the initiative. Spybot, Ad-aware,
SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard all have features that make
updating easy. Make sure you use them.
Finally, only use reputable anti-spyware software products like
the ones mentioned in the preceding paragraph. Do some research
before installing any new product. Just how embarrassing would
it be to get infected by a product you installed to protect
yourself!
Gizmo
[email protected]