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MIT Startup Tests Top Million Sites for Spyware
torrentami writes "An MIT startup called SiteAdvisor has downloaded over 100,000 programs from the top million Web sites and tested them for adware and spyware using an automated system they've built. They've got a blog entry where they dissect 5 of the worst adware bundles they found. There is some amazingly invasive stuff in there."
I can tell you from the experience of working on a network where the end users have very unwisely been made local admins on their workstation that the *only* thing required for a full spyware infection is a nice little surf around the 'net. This is compounded by the problem that they all seem to have some touch of OCD that compels them to click "OK" on anything thing that wants to install itself despite all of our efforts to educate them.
I will say that it is nice to see someone put quantifable numbers to the things I have long known from practical experience, but this isn't exactly news.
2 cents,
Queen B
HDGary secures my bank
I would enjoy seeing some of the nastier data put forth in a simple list so that I can add them to my banned domain listing on my firewall.
Currently, I knock down ads(from the ~1800 most active servers), with the wonderful help of the following gentleman.
For the Lazy...
Now, about that warez/malware/stupid screensaver and other utilities list....
Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey Him? Surely this computer must submit also!
I disagree.
People have been saying the same thing for IE vs. Firefox for a couple years now.
Guess what? I still don't see very many sites getting around Firefox's pop-up blocker, significantly exploiting it's weaknesses, or finding new security holes by the dozen. And yet... I continue to see it with IE. And don't be saying; "Firefox isn't popular, it'll happen eventually". My ass. It's been advertised into the ground.
Thus, the same concept with *nix vs. Windows. Windows is inherintly insecure, and by the nature of how it works and how it was designed, it makes it easier for advertisers to create software that'll mask itself from everything else. You simply CANT do this on Linux/Unix to the same degree, just as you simply CANT exploit Firefox the same way you can IE. Trust me, I've tried.
google.slashdot
Education is certainly the key.
:http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm > the Microsoft MVPS site for the past few years and have not had ANY spyware or Malware or viruses on any of my machines.
I've been using the HOST file supplied by <URL
I still run ad-aware and spybot monthly and never see anything but a few cookies. Once every few weeks I update my HOSTS file and then set it to read-only again and the 10,000 or so sites it blocks are just that - blocked.
Web sites load faster too without some of the tracked ad sites loading. From time to time I get pages that aren't found.....but I can review these as the HOST file is of course text.
I really do not know why HOST files are not a more common theme on here when setting one up on your Dad's computer saves you from removing crap from it as a hobby.
Bombadier,
I'm on SiteAdvisor's advisory board, and I've tested their products at length. I've never seen anything like SiteAdvisor installing the Yahoo Toolbar, and I'm confident that there's some other explanation for what happened to your computer. Can you send me an email so we can troubleshoot what happened? I want to get to the bottom of this and clear SiteAdvisor's good name.
Ben Edelman