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Earthstation5 Responds to Malware Claims
"We at Earthstation5 are not perfect, but we acknowledge that Shaun Garriok might be and thank him for helping us root out bugs.
The problem with the Earthstation5 software that Shaun Garriok found truly exists; however, the sordid motives he attributes to Earthstation5 are incorrect. The following functions were put into Earthstation5 to allow automatic, remote upgrade of the Earthstation5 software.
These functions are:
- Reload Earthstation5
- Shutdown Earthstation5
- Delete a File
We have long been admirers of Shaun Garriok's ability to superbly investigate even a fully compiled program. We believe that he is capable of finding ANY sort of trojan, worm, or bug inside a compiled program. We are relieved that all he could find was these remote upgrade functions. He didn't find any bugs that send user data anywhere, no spyware, no adware, nothing, in fact, that gives away any personal information about the user using Earthstation5.
It is also a fortunate fact that since Earthstation5 protects you from the RIAA lawsuits and hackers by hiding your ip address, the exploit program he wrote can only be used against your own computer, which he states in his exploit. If you want to delete files from your own computer, we feel you have the right to do that.
We are glad he found this bug and pointed it out. We completely removed the automatic software upgrade code because as it turns out automatic upgrade is no longer popular as it once was because it gives people an uneasy feeling and rightly so.
Since Shaun Garriok seems to be concerned about everyone's security, and is not on a personal quest for revenge, we would be grateful if he would download the latest Earthstation5 (version 1.1.31), and verify that we have truly removed the remote-update function which his exploit program accessed. We think his dedication to the good of all concerned would motivate him to do this. Anyone else who is concerned can do the same; download the latest Earthstation5 and test the exploit code against it.
-- Filehoover, Lead Programmer of ES5."
that these people are based in the middle east... their statements have a certain nigerian ring to them.
I WISH THIS MY PROPOSAL WILL NOT COME TO YOU AS A SURPRISE... I CRAVE YOUR INDULGENCE AS I CONTACT YOU IN SUCH A SURPRISING MANNER. BUT I RESPECTFULLY INSIST YOU READ THIS LETTER CAREFULLY AS I AM OPTIMISTIC IT WILL OPEN DOORS FOR UNIMAGINABLE FINANCIAL REWARDS FOR BOTH OF US...
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"From the pissing contest department"...
And, as far as the "We at Earthstation5 desire and request criticism at any time in fact we demand it goes...
Earthstation5, you demanded criticism, here is mine.
YOU SUCK!
Disclaimer: The author has not read the article, and has not used ES5 software. However, being a good drone, complies with all "demands".
krystal_blade
It will be easy to motivate our fellow man; there is hardly anything people treasure more than not being annihilated.
I searched for "car bomb" and got over 800 results.
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
It is also a fortunate fact that since Earthstation5 protects you from the RIAA lawsuits and hackers by hiding your ip address, the exploit program he wrote can only be used against your own computer, which he states in his exploit.
There are some things money can't buy, for everything else, there's netstat -i
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
..they have such a corny, geekified name. I mean doesn't Earth Station 5 sound like some lame sci-fi dream of a little geek who doesn't get out much? :)
As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.
This is the best reason I have found yet to delete all P2P applications off my system and never install one again.
Sheesh. Talk about inspiring confidence.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.