Slashdot Mirror
Spyware Floods in Through BitTorrent
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."
I will admit to being rather conflicted. On one hand, it really irritated me to discover that the app I downloaded (for testing purposes only!) would also install spyware.
On the other hand who could I complain to? Bittorrent? Adobe? Direct Revenue?
Yes, once again Slashdot comes to the rescue! Where else can I gripe about companies that try to exploit my illegal activities!
Three Squirrels
The MPAA cartel have been more than public about their conspiracy to poison p2p networks.
Eternity: will that be smoking, or non-smoking? I Corinthians 6:9-10
Of course this won't stop some people from blaming Microsoft somehow.
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
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.
is that Bittorrent is really not the problem here. The adware isn't coming from a Bittorrent client, or being 'snuck in' over the protocol instead of or alongside a file you're downloading, it's coming in the file you're downloading! It's the same way adware gets into a host of other files we've been told to be careful of, like email attachments.
Bittorrent is simply used to add a bit more hype and FUD to the same old same-o.
Why is it still safer? Open Source / Freeware (no spyware) clients.
.exe or some such program. One program I did download asked me to install third party software... I quicky realized that the EULA was of a spyware company, asking me to waive all rights to privacy, and did not belong to the developing company.
Plus, even if you DO download a file that ends up being spyware, when you download the torrent from most sites, they allow you to give comments like "I FOUND SIXTEEN HUNDREN VIRUSES IN THIS TORRENT", and although some people lie, if people are complaining about stuff like that, you can usually guess that it is a spyware infested torrent.
Of course, even this only matters when you download something containing an
Um...this is wrong. Perhaps you missed the part that said the client isn't the infection path?
Oh, guess you didn't read TFA.
The infection path is simply a self-extracting file that contains the content you wanted, along with a spyware tag-along. It can be downloaded with any client, they just happen to be seeding them as torrents.
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.
It's funny to see BitTorrent now get their comeuppance. When you lie with snakes, you're going to get bit.
How does it feel to get hoist by your own petard now?
Feels just like making my bed and lying in it or lying with dogs and getting up with fleas. But not as embarassing as painting myself into a corner or being caught with my pants down. A bird in the hand is wor#*NG(*(JF>SA
POST TERMINATED: Cliche limit reached.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
You bring up a real issue, not from an end-user standpoint, but from major corporations. Shouldn't these companies get into serious legal trouble? I can think of two ways right off the top of my head.
First, if they're sticking adware on an illegal file and uploading it, don't the same laws apply to them uploading the illegal file? Is the **AA suing these companies along with 12-year-old kids? After all, it's adware-infested, but it's still an illegal file, right?
Second, if they are modifying warez software, not only does the previous apply, but doesn't it fall under the protection of software that outlaws modifying binary code and distributing it without the publisher's consent? I mean think about it, this kind of thing not only supposedly denies companies revenue, but it can give them a serious black eye. What if people get the incorrect impression that an adware-infested version of a respectable piece of software is the real thing? All of a sudden, you have a really bad--and undeserved--reputation for distributing spyware on everyone's computers.
Yeah...but those movie files tend to be .exe files, right? How can you install spyware if you're just playing an avi file? And when you're downloading a bittorrent file you can go into your directory and SEE what files you're getting! I sometimes click on torrent files and yes it might be an .exe even though I was expecting an .avi. but then I just cancel the download and grab something else.
Maybe this will get people who don't really know anything?
--File Transfer Protocol Used to Transfer Files. Story at 11.
Don't bother calling their office. Don't bother emailing them for help. And no matter what you do, don't run their uninstall utility myPCtuneup - it simply installs more crap.
Direct Revenue LLC is VC backed. Please, complain to the right guy.
Insite Venture Partners
Mr. Deven Parekh
His desk number is 212-230-9216 and his real email address is dparekh@insightpartners.com
May we waste as much of his time as he has of ours. How many people here spend hours "helping" their non-tech friends remove this crap . . .
It's not a Windows problem.
First of all, I can't think of anything stopping the same thing from happening with Linux software. Although it's ever elusive, if Linux does eventually become the desktop standard, do you think that average Linux users will conscienciously check every MD5 hash for every binary they download? Probably not. Even if some external means of verification exists that a program is authentic, it adds a layer of complexity to using the system that most average people, given the choice, simply won't use.
Which brings me to my second point, that if you have to blame anything you mentioned, the emphasis should be on the USER, not the operating system. And personally, I don't blame the average user because I think that there's no excuse for computers and software not being easy and intuitive enough for average users to use without having to spend hours and hours learning it. So who does the blame lie with? Primarily, the developers of virii and adware. Secondarily, the developer community (closed AND open source) for not putting enough emphasis on security with ease of use. And the problem with feeling that they "deserve their pop-ups" is that they're not just hurting themselves by throttling their own bandwidth, they are collectively throttling the bandwidth of the entire Internet, and that makes it your and my problem, too.
Third, I am a Windows user for around twelve years, and a damn competent one, if I do say so myself. I have never once been hacked, infected, or adwared (can that be used as a verb?) without it being a deliberate action on my part for academic purposes. If Windows were such an insecure operating system, it seems that no amount of virus and adware protection would prevent me from eventually getting some nasty bug. The fact is that with a few simple actions, Windows is as safe and secure for an average user as any other OS.
In addition to pointing out the obvious (which I'm not criticizing you for, sometimes things need to be said), please do something about it. A nice start might be what I did: Buy a spindle of CD-R's and burn a copy of a FOSS antivirus program, adware detector/remover, Firefox, etc. and start handing it out to your friends and family, and offer to help out in giving their machines a periodic tune-up (or overhaul, as the case may be) to make their lives--and by extension, your life--a little easier and better.
Although this is not a tech support forum...
A simple solution is to remove execute permissions on the file. I've run across malware that doesn't like you accessing the permissions dialog, so I typically use the command line CACLS.exe. Then I reboot, get a few errors since it is trying to execute a file that no account has permission to access. Now you can restore the delete permission and remove the file since it's not locked.
If I drive fast enough at the red light, it'll appear green.
I guess no one has suggested this yet: use Process Explorer and search for any open handles to the file. Once all the handles are closed, you can delete it safely because it won't be in use.
This technique is a little shaky because those running programs that have handles to the DLL might be a little upset that it the handle is suddenly closed, but just reboot after you complete the process if something breaks or crashes.
-fren
"Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket?"