First Worm with a EULA?

ErikRed1488 writes "There is a new virtual postcard from Friend Greetings, owned by Permissioned Media that prompts you to install their software to view the card. You are then presented with a EULA granting them permission to e-mail all the Contacts in your Outlook Address Book. Those people are presented with an e-mail from you telling them they have a greeting card to pick up. So, this thing spreads like a worm, but includes a EULA that 95% of users won't take the time to read. Symantec isn't detecting this as a virus, but does have information about it on their site. In addition to the worm-like way it spreads, it also installs spyware designed to deliver ads to your computer. You also give them permission to install further software any time they want. In my opinion this is completely nasty, but it's all clearly in the EULA that you must agree to before it installs the software."

Comments

Lord

[rhadamanthus]

I'm sorry, I find this really funny. In fact, the only thing funnier would be if they accessed the contacts via an outlook security hole of some sort...

I know I shouldn't be laughing, but this is just one of those things which makes me grin in amusement at all those poor outlook-users out there...

-----Rhad

Brilliant Sociology Experiment

[iSwitched]

Just a couple weeks ago I was reading an interview with Kevin Mitnick (linked from right here in /.) where he commented on the importance of social engineering in hacking.

Seems like this is perfect proof - we've been so trained to blindly accept EULAS in our software, sometimes on a daily basis, that this hole was wide open.

Re:The First Worm Written By a Microsoft Lawyer...

[u-235-sentinel]

Just spoke with my supervisor about this. After the chuckling was over he thought about it a moment, looked at me and said "Are you sure this isn't a Microsoft Product?"

I guess people are just used to it around here.