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Spyware Floods in Through BitTorrent

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the only-a-matter-of-time dept.

solareagle writes "Public peer-to-peer networks have always been associated with adware program distributions, but BitTorrent, the program created by Bram Cohen to offer a new approach to sharing digital files, has managed to avoid the stigma. Not any more, anti-spyware advocates warn. According to Chris Boyd, a renowned security researcher who runs the VitalSecurity.org nonprofit resource center, the warm and fuzzy world of BitTorrent has been invaded by a massive software distribution campaign linked to New York-based adware purveyor Direct Revenue LLC."

6 of 457 comments (clear)

  1. Shrug by The+Bungi · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Download something, install it on your machine. You get malware. Surprise. This has nothing to do with the fact that it's BT, because BT is open to everyone. It's the user's responsibility, as always. As with Kazaa, LimeWire and any other P2P technology or just downloading "that really cool screensaver" using your web browser.

    Of course this won't stop some people from blaming Microsoft somehow.

  2. They're number one financial backers by bigwavejas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wouldn't be surprised if the MPAA and RIAA are their number one financial backers, it was probably even their brainchild in an effort to chase wouldbe wrongdoers from downloading music or movies.

    --
    "Simplify, simplify, simplify!" Thoreau
  3. I call BULLSHIT by Jarnis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Anyone with half a brain will NOT download a 'video file' that ends in .exe

    None of the real proper releases are 'infected'. Only way to get spyware is to be a moron and download some 'hot_paris_hilton_sex_video.exe'.

    There is no magic way to 'insert' spyware in bittorrent transfers. Tracker has the hash of the file, you cannot modify it. This is just a marketer seeding crap, hoping that idiots bite. Hook, line, sinker -style.

    1. Re:I call BULLSHIT by Andy+Dodd · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Still, if the result of un-RARing the file is an .exe when you downloaded video, any moron can tell that something is WRONG.

      Such torrents would quickly die from lack of seeders.

      So far, very few (if any) BT clients are bundled with spyware. Perhaps if you got them from an untrustworthy mirror, this would be different, but nearly every client is adware/spyware-free if you download it from a reputable source.

      With the exception of downloading warez (games/apps), there's almost no way anyone could sneak spyware/adware into a BT download. You just simply can't infect AVI/WMV/MPEG/MP3 files. Probably 50% of BT traffic (or more) consist of media files. Another 30-40% (at least) are Linux ISOs, which are also pretty damn hard to infect with spyware/adware.

      --
      retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
  4. Re:This is Dumb by failure-man · · Score: 5, Insightful

    BitTorrent already hashes the download with SHA1, so unless the Spyware industry has come up with some practical way to generate collisions it's not the pieces that are corrupt. It's the whole torrent.

  5. THIS JUST IN-- by BitHive · · Score: 5, Insightful

    --File Transfer Protocol Used to Transfer Files. Story at 11.