Slashdot Mirror
Scaremongering over Spyware?
Dynamoo writes "The BBC is reporting that PCs in the UK are infected with over 20 pieces of spyware on average. A frightening statistic, if it is to be believed. In fact, the figures come from Webroot - an anti-spyware firm with a commercial interest in playing up the spyware threat." From the article: "In Poland, 867 of every 1,000 domestic PCs have been infected by trojans, unsolicited programs that can allow remote users to control the machine. It is this international reach that concerns those in authority trying to combat the spread of spyware. "
Slowly people that I know start to have things in order as I have managed to make them change habits, install tools and such, but not everyone has such aquintances, and even then, the number of times I have cleaned spyware from someones computer is way high...
Why shouldn't the anti-spyware companies do it? The anti-virus people over hype the threats all the time anyway. The press plays along cause it sells newspapers and ups the ratings...
"Money is truthful. If a man speaks of his honor, make him pay cash." Notebooks of Lazarus Long, Robert A. Heinlein
How can you really tell how many people are infected with spyware? It's not a question like, "do you support proposition 84?" where you can call people at random or talk to them on the street. I would be afraid of the guy who came to my door asking if he could test whether or not my computer was infected with spyware(doubly so since I use a mac :P), and if you just ask people, 9/10 they won't know but will probably make up a answer anyway. They could use the numbers sent to them by customers, but that isn't random at all. Their customers are much more likely to have spyware infections or else they wouldn't be seeking their help.
So yeah, it's a number, but not a very convincing one...
Monstar L
The BBC is reporting that PCs in the UK are infected with over 20 pieces of spyware on average...It is this international reach that concerns those in authority trying to combat the spread of spyware."
Quick, get Q on the line, I think we are going to need the services of 007 for this one!
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
...they are (probably deliberately) confusing the terms "trojan" and "spyware". Is it any wonder that the average user doesn't know the difference between a "virus", "spyware" or "adware", doesn't know the umbrella term "malware", and thinks that any antivirus program is all they need to stay safe?
To this day, most end-users I talk to think that "spyware" is something good, since they hear people talking about "Spybot", which they think is "a program that gets rid of the viruses".
When will we get some REAL end-user education in this topic? Public schools have Sex Ed classes where they teach you how to reduce your risk of getting HIV and the Clap... how about Computer Safety classes where they teach you how to reduce your risk of getting viruses or spyware?
With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?
When I help out none-techies with their crippled system, they often have in excess of 100 pieces of various malware. I can well believe as an average of the uk that 21 would not be a too unreasonable figure.
All is fair in love and war...
From TFA: More information regarding those settlements can be found here.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
Well it would all depend on what was being classed as spyware. Are they including tracking cookies, in which case anyone using google with cookies turned on will be infected.
And why oh why can't the BBC specify "Windows" users. Why do they report every piece of Malware as being a threat to PC users. It's not. Most malware is operating system specific. if it affects Windows, say Windows.
Sloppy journalism...slipping standards, blah blah...
It is not scare-mongering, it is real and I am surprised it is only 20 pieces of spyware. Pretty much any website will usually drop a half dozen advertising tracking cookies.
This is bad. What we need is better education of the users I think. And of course better operating systems. *g* Well, a step forward is that Microsoft is now including their spyware-scanner by default, if I remember correctly.
Education is the real key to computer protection, not the purchase of spyware removal tools.
I've only ever had one piece of malware, which was ten years ago (the Tai Pei virus). In the meantime, I've learned good computer habits. These include being cautious about downloading and installing software, using the free firewall which comes with Windows XP, and employing the Mozilla range of browsers / email clients.
If users don't learn to be cautious when using a computer, they're going to run afoul of phishers, which will be much more of an incovenience that a bit of adware.
Phoenix, Boston, Little Rock, see a pattern?
However, if they are, then I'm sure most of the computers I own (Linux, OS X, Win) will have at least a dozen such "spyware" infections...
Hell, I've seen computers that would push that average *way* up all on their own.
You have: 10,489 viruses on your computer
No, I did not make that up. There are actually people out there (many, in fact) that think that the computer is running really slow because it's getting old, and not because there's three billion pieces of crap bogging it down. It just never occurs to them.
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
On the other hand, doesnt it lead to waste of:
(*) valuable time, because every now and then you have to scan/remove/update/etc
(*) valuable comp resources/processing because you HAVE to have your anti-****(whatever)-ware ALWAYS on, which are generally bloated and eat up memory/processing (*) and imagine the rebooting and re-installing
Its sad that the 'wonderful pc experience' has now come to a stage that the price one pays is getting heavier. And with some very basic steps/prevention measures (as explained by many at /. during such stories), it could be enhanced many times.
A lot of anti-spy/adware tools are targetting the cookies of webcounters. These are not spying on people but just used to destinguish between visitors that are visiting a site once or a steady visitor. This cookie information is also used to give more reliable statistics and this information is used to improve the website.
This has nothing to do with spy- and ad-ware.
Please don't call a cookie spyware unless it is used over different sites or it contains personal information.
It was a wonder the thing was even running....
Unfortunately, the current versions of Windows are too exploitable and unmanageable. The average Joe User isn't going to know how to set up a firewall or disable services he doesn't need. What we need is a fundamental shift from the current MS way of doing things.
ConsultingFair.com
I'm working for an antivirus company (and you have NO idea, the problem with spyware is not that you couldn't remove it, it's the legal issues around removing it and labeling it spyware), and from my perspective, there are 2 kinds of spyware out there.
:)
The kind that comes in the form of a cookie like doubleclick. It's tracking you, so it is technically spyware, even though it does not modify anything on your PC, does not have any negative impact on your stability or anything else. All it does is to monitor your browsing behaviour.
If you count this kind of spyware then yes, the infection rate is crippling. 99% I'd wager. And 20 on average is reaching kinda low.
If you only count those pesky popups that come as BHOs and other installed services, then my count would be a LOT lower. Still way too high but WAY lower.
And yes, the average infected computer carries a tremenduous load of spyware. If you have one, you have them all. If I didn't know better, I'd say they download each other.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Hah!
DOUBLE HAH!
Them: "Dude, my computer is slow and it's got some sort of popup that comes on when I turn it on"
Me: "You're infected"
Them: "But how? I don't go to any porn sites...." yadda yadda yadda.
And when I get to the sick peecee, I see that not only does it have _one_ piece of malware, but it barely boots from the hundreds (sometimes thousands) of evil packages all fighting for control of the poor machine.
It's a losing battle. No, it's not scare mongering. It's reality.
--
BMO
What kind of half-assed shit is this?
A single spyware application (ex. Gator) will have several files and registry keys that need to be cleaned. An anti-spyware program will need to highlight each of these for deletion. This is not the same as 20 individual processes on average for machines.
They can give Microsoft an additional $50 American every year, that should fix their PC problems post haste: Who better than Microsoft to fix Microsoft products?
Now if you'll excuse me, Guido the wheel man is at the door wanting his $20 American for not trashing my wheels when I'm not using them -- he calls it "assurance" while I call it "insurance" but it's really just plain old extortion. You see, Guido sold me the wheels and tells me he can only keep them working if I pay him forever, otherwise something nasty is sure to happen and it will cost me even more money to get it fixed.
If the woman in this article is such a heroic professional, why is she only cleaning off the malware and not getting the users off Microsoft OSes? Surely she has figured out by now that the cleaned machines get trashed again. Maybe she just really likes being needed. Maybe this is PR trash planted by some Microsoft goon.
Maybe Mac and Linux folks are laughing like crazed loons after reading this "heroic" article.
Cherrios.
Everything in the Universe sucks: It's the law!
clicky :D
Are you counting, are you counting every single file, every single registry key, every single directory and every single cookie as "a piece?"
Thats like having a dinner party and counting the total amount of bones that the invitees have...
Here at GRCC, Computer Club runs a monthly event called PC Clinic where we fix machines for free. We've serviced more than 60 machines over the course of the three events we've run. We easily average more than 100 pieces of spyware on each machine we test.
/. comments later, after class. :)
Three or four machines had over 1000[sic] pieces of spyware, and one machine had over three thousand pieces, plus several variants of either Sasser or Sobig. (I forget which...that machine came in the door on our first day.)
We don't just service the machines of the elderly...we get a lot of uninformed college students and their parents, as well.
If you have any questions, drop me an email. I'd be happy to answer them. I'll respond to
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
It doesn't matter where you surf. It doesn't matter what you open in mail. It doesn't matter if you keep your system updated.
...
What matters is the combination of it all!
You have to do EVERYTHING to stay clean. No shady porn sites, no clickyclicky on shady mail, daily updates, up to date virus killer, well configured firewall,
"Gaaaaah... too much work!" is the answer you'll get from Joe Schmoe Average. "All I wanna do is surf, I don't wanna worry about system stability, Browser plugins and antivirus."
Well, all I want to do with my car is drive around. And still I gotta worry about red lights and directional lanes. Why the heck do I? It makes me slower and keeps me from getting right where I want to be!
Oh. Right. I enjoy being alive and have an operational car.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Due to this, most people as well as companys just trust too much over and over again on IE and other MS unsecure software.
:(
Once again money talks higher than world sanity
I just wish the ones that take care about this could live in peace, but nobody cares if computers are a mess and mess up the world.
Maybe ISP's could create a paralel clean internet, and when strange network activity was detected it would be pluged to the messy-internet for a week or so after last incident.
Isn't google trying to do somehing like this?
The emphasis on preventing spyware from infecting a PC is misplaced. The problem is best addressed by defining what is acceptable and what is not. Then punishing the people who exceed the limit.
Who will define what is acceptable? We will, of course. We are the technological elite. It's time that we start making the parameters about what is acceptable behavior on the net.
So the spyware makers pay off the politicians to allow some country to engage in aberant conduct and give them a save haven? Shut off the country from the web.
It's time that we stop assuming that in the evolving information age that the politicians have more control over society than the technical elite. We control the web, and we need to take responsibility for the assholes and criminals who use it to prey on society. That means shutting down the 419 chuckleheads also.
We created the environment that allows viruses and spyware to exist. It's time that we and not the politicians put an end to it. And if what we do goes against some jerks 'right' to sell access to your PC for his own profit, then so be it.
Is it just me, or does anybody else see the humor in this coming a few articles after the EFF warning people not to use Google Desktop?
... not only 007
The concept works just swell for data that doesnt vary much, like the two numbers above, and forms a bell-shaped curve.
The concept doesnt work at all,k and in fact is highly misleading, when the data tends to be at one extreme or the other. Such as, oh, number of spyware apps on a compuiter.
IMH experience, computers either have 300+ items of spyware (if they've never been scanned), or they have ZERO (if they have a spyware scan program or three, or have no outside Web access).
So saying the average number is XXXX is a misleading statistic. More than likely, a certain percentage have ZERO, the rest have many hundreds.
In My Humble Experience.
How many of those 20 pieces are those horribly nasty tracking cookies? I'm not a fan of them, but I'm also well aware that they're not nearly as malicious as many users think they are...
This guy's the limit!
the UK has the lowest rate of usage of firefox in europe.
\u262D = \u5350
I routinely scan XP machines all the time. I see numbers in the hundreds. If the UK only has that few, they're lucky!
Spyware hype or scare? No, it's reality!
-- I am. Therefore, I think!
My friend was going to get rid of his computer because he didn't think it was running right. I told him to let me look at it first. I ran some virus software and some spyware/adware software on it. I found upwards of 100 viruses and over 400 peices of spyware/adware. His computer runs like a dream now.
Englands average of 20 does not impress me!
"Just call me Girly Blank"
While these numbers are overhyped, it's certainly not nessesarily unrealistic. More and more sites are including drive by downloads, including the spyware that's pretending to be anti-spyware. We see this with many sites, such as ebaumsworld (which unfortunately steals all of its content) and has recently added the winfixer spyware to its list of trash. I would guess a large amount of people will infect themselves for a little entertainment.
No problems on my OS X or Linux! It's amazing that a company would write insecure software and then have the nerve to sell protection is amazing. If Windows was secure there wouldn't be a need for Mrs Brothwood to be named a Most Valuable Professional by Microsoft for her (volunteer/free) security work!
Let's count it up. MSN, Internet Explorer, Windows Autoupdate...
:P
I kid, I kid
"When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
Anyone who says the average computer has more than 2 pieces of spyware is counting cookies.
As someone who works for the IT department of a university cleaning up student laptops (Windows XP and 2000 mainly), I see stuff like this all the time. I've seen Adaware go over 5,000 before. If anything, the average student has more than 20 pieces of spyware usually. Thankfully Spybot, MSAS, HijackThis, Adaware, Sysinterals Auto Runs, a good virus scan and the ability to turn off system restore make fixing them not so difficult.
umm, go to hell...?
I don't think that it is played up as I have seen very well how well Webroot's SPY SWEEPER cleans up computers where all other Anti-Spyware fail miserably.
"In fact, the figures come from Webroot - an anti-spyware firm with a commercial interest in playing up the spyware threat." I strongly believe this as a lot of people have NO Clue about protecting their computers at all.
I just did 10 computers convincing our clients to switch to webroot's spy sweeper and I was able to show them how inferior the other products were compared to this one. Spy Sweeper even stops ALL POPUPs including ones that are run by spyware software outside of IE/Firefox.
I would recommend that others try spy sweeper out and compare it to your other Anti-Spyware software. This software is worth the money when they get it working 100% of the time vs the poorly made competition.
What counts as a "piece" of spyware? If a particular malware application entails five files, is each of those a "piece"? Are they counting each tracking cookie as a "piece"? Without detailed definitions, "20 pieces" is meaningless.
Anti spyware companies also have an incentive to tout cookies as some huge spyware threat too. How many of those 87% of "infected" machines had nothing more than a doubleclick cookie on them?
As per the slashdot article that I happen to agree with ( it ran a month or so ago) Education is not the answer, locking the user out of abilities and controling what they can do and what they can't do is the answer. Most IT people should agree that the fewer things their employees do on their computer that isn't work related (ie download FWD attachemnts, install software, blah blah blah) the better shape the computer is in. Things like spyware and adaware whatever malware should not be able to be installed on a computer in the first place. Until that happens the is always going to be a multibillion dollar market (which may be the point)
This number is easy for me to see as an "average". Either people are at least mildly educated about spyware like us on /. and have absolutely no spyware or are completely unedcuated and have several thousand pieces of spyware!!! Those with several thousand pieces when averaged with those who have none what-so-ever can easy come up with 20 pieces on average.
... and in the DRM, bind them.
WARNING: Webroot's anti-spyware scanning software (Spy Sweeper 4.5.8, build 683)destroys .ZIP files that were created with the "encrypt filenames" setting turned on. It truncates the files to 1 KB each, deleting all other data, without warning or notice.
I lost 19 GB of data in the first scan. They were barely responsive when I told them about this.
Well, tracking cookies may not be executables, but it's probably reasonable to consider many of them to be spyware, at least to the extent that they may be part of or coopted by a larger adware system which may identify a particular user and their web surfing history.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
It's always a shocker to see what kind of data is collected by keyloggers. With 20+ pieces of malware on the average PC, how many do you think are in places where you do have personal information. Your company has all of your personal information, somebody had to enter that in by hand. How about banks? They're frequently the target of even nastier things than the article mentions. Remember that the credit card and check scanning devices that are attached to computers input data in the same way that keyboards do. In fact, most of them are daisy-chained to keyboard plugs to get power. This means that if your local florist, butcher, dry cleaner, etc. does transactions on the computer, all of your credit card or check information could be in Russia within the hour! Scary.
Some anti-spyware/virus companies classify tracking cookies as spyware.
In Soviet Russia, I ruled you
There are plenty of other more-neutral studies that say basically the same thing.
r vey_1.htmle StudyRelease.pdf0 4.pdf
? content_id=716624 5-20041015DellsSpywareSurvey.html
Late in 2004 some studies were done that were pretty thorough. I know it's kind of old now but I can't imagine things have gotten any better.
A study was done by AOL and the National Cyber Security Alliance. Some of their findings:
6% of users thought they had a virus currently on their computer. A scan revealed that actually 19% of all the users had viruses.
71% of those with antivirus software thought that it updated weekly or daily. However, a scan revealed that only 33% of all the users had actually updated their antivirus within the last week.
53% thought they had spyware on their computer. A scan revealed that in truth, 80% of all the users had spyware.
References:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/10/25/HNaolsu
http://www.staysafeonline.info/pdf/NCSA-AOLIn-Hom
http://www.staysafeonline.info/pdf/safety_study_v
Another study by Dell estimated that nearly 90% of all desktop computers are infected somehow, with 1 out of 5 calls to Dell tech-support being virus/spyware related. Most people aren't even aware that their computers have been compromised:
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php
http://www.webpronews.com/news/ebusinessnews/wpn-
There is no outright need to use grep for any casual linux user who just wants a functional desktop. None. They wouldn't even to know it exists. That's a complete non issue. Pick any of the top name brand distros (non source based), and they are all easy to install now, and easy to keep patched and are easy to find and install new software with, all with the GUI. That part especially is light years beyond anything MS has. The biggest problems are hardware vendor based, it's hard to find (for your normal user just out shopping) the same level of offerings in your local computer store (ex: there are 4 retail stores in my area that sell complete systems and add-ons and software, zero of them offer any linux anything), and peripherals are a constant hassle, but that is more a political decision by the vendors, they won't say it out loud but they are still afraid of offending MS, some how they think it will hurt them. You can't buy it if it isn't even there on the shelf. You don't even know it's there to buy if the major vendors constantly fail to include it in their offerings.
Mark Russinovich of sysinternals has an interesting experiment here.
You DO pay forever to keep them working, either retreading them or buying newer (upgrades!) every couple of years :)
I would imagine that most of their data comes from people who have been sent to their website by some tech, "Dude, you're infected...go to this website". This is going to skew their sample population (which they probably knew already. OH NOES!!!11)
If a bunch of us paranoid MFers who scan regularly with multiple programs went to their site I'm betting that average would drop.
We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion.
where I live, a computer is infected by 100 spywares in average!
:D
Let's all move to the UK!
> Well it would all depend on what was being classed as spyware. Are they including tracking cookies,
Articles, surveys, antispyware ads, antispyware product scan reports, need to distinguish sharply between tracking cookies and installed code. They don't, and that clouds any attempt to be realistic about the threat level. Tracking cookies don't measurably slow your system down. Tracking cookies don't destabilize the OS. Tracking cookies don't steal passwords, intercept SSL sessions, or change your home page to a porn popup purveyor.
>If I didn't know better, I'd say they download each other. :)
I believe you'll find that they do. They may disable programs from a competing keiretsu, but if they install a moneymaking piece of spyware from a friendly company then they get a piece of the action, kind of like recruiting a downstream Amway sales rep.
>If they fixed it so remote users can't install, run or modify anything on your computer without your express permission, it would go a long way towards fighting spyware
It would go a long way toward fighting the current generation of spyware, which is fond of exploiting Windows bugs and misfeatures to implement a "drive-by download".
Unfortunately criminals adapt. Block drive-by downloads and they'll all migrate to EULA-ware. OS X would not be immune. Any OS that assumes that software should have complete power of attorney for the user launching it is vulnerable. Users *might* wake up when an installations asks them for an administrator password, but would you count on that?
>If MS changed Windows so that it requires an admin to password to modify the registry, install anything, or for a remote user to run anything on your comptuer you'd see a marked improvement right away.
Personal opinion, you'd see an immediate marked improvement followed by a gradual decline to a point almost as bad as what we have now.
In other news, 133 out of 1000 PC's in Poland run an OS other than Windows.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
"Agreed, way too common- but most spyware removal programs count even a single registry entry as a piece of spyware- so I'd say the estimate is a bit low. I usually run into 20-100 pieces of spyware on an infected machine."
Warning: This machine has been found to contain Windows XP Service Pack 2. This software can be used to compromise your system's security, and has been found to have a major role in many major computer security crises in the past. It is suggested that you remove this software at once.
"They can give Microsoft an additional $50 American every year..."
Americans are only $50 now? I'll take three please. Preferably SWF's under age 25 but old enough to drink.
.....the use of windows by brainwashing another young generation of computer users that that is the only system and that windows=the computer? If you want that, then let microsoft pay for it off campus someplace where they can get their victims..I mean customers go to learn how to use windows safely. I am sick of my tax money going to perpetuate the windows bogus monopoly. Please get your expensive and buggy crap out of the public schools, it's a ripoff. And speaking of ripoffs, let's get the damn pro sports farm teams out of the public schools, let the NFL and NBA run their own child indoctrination and addiction centers entirely on their own nickle, some place other than the tax payer funded schools.
The actual count of infected PCs was 8675309 out of 10000000 total.
I don't think I've ever had a client with LESS than 20 pieces of spyware.
I fully believe that almost every user not using antispyware products = and using IE on a regular basis - has at LEAST that many pieces of spyware.
The latest total bitch to get rid of is SpyStrike. You have to use a custom removal tool AND at least two anti-trojan (not anti-spyware, although you need those, too) to get rid of it.
I'm getting to the point where it might be better just to tell clients to wipe the machine, reinstall the OS and install the antispyware stuff rather than try to clean it. It's just not worth the hours to the client (although it is to me, since I get paid for this - but even then it's hard to justify billing for four to eight hours or even more to get rid of something you can get rid off in less time by reinstalling.) I mean, just to run two to four antispyware and antitrojan scans takes two to three hours if the machine is slow and there are a lot of files to scan. Then you have to dig out and get rid of the ones the scans didn't detect - which is why you have to use at least two or three utilities of each type. It's pathetic. It's so easy to own Windows it's just pathetic.
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
It's called "Linux." It works really really well.
If you're not into that, then spywareblaster, spybot -search & destroy, iespyads, firefox, sun java 1.5
But really, try "Linux."
Please stop stalking me, bro.
I just fixed a friend's machine that had over 1200 pieces of spyware on it (about 60% where duplicates), the scary thing is that this is not at all uncommon. He had the typical symptoms of the machine getting slower and slower until it finally refused to respond. I had to boot the (XP) thing up in safe mode and manually remove 50 or so malware entries from the registry before it would boot.
His Anti-Virus software was still sitting sealed in the box from when he bought the machine! He assumed it was installed by his vendor (Compaq).
What's disturbing is that this is one of the milder cases of spyware infection I've seen. On average, I find 200-300 when testing machines. The record is well over 10,000 - and that was on an employees computer at my former job!! (yes, she was fired). Cutting out IE and replacing it with an alternative is a big help. Hopefully, IE7 will be more resilient towards spyware. The number one defense is to get an anti-virus program and keep it up to date.
What, are they charging by the minute again? I can patch on 56k just fine, when I have to. Fortunately, I don't still have 56k...
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
In normal use even with resident scanners like spybot and avast and a firewall you're going to pick up 20 COOKIES which the tool flags as spyware.
But I've been wrestling with a hijacker infeced machine that seems resolutel. I have maybe one or more things to try before I give up on removing it. Most of the popups start a blank browser window atleast because I scrupulously add all those urls to my = 127.0.0.1 section of HOSTS. But it's still a pain.
Anyway if you stop running your resident scanners for any amount of time you'll get spyware up the wazoo -- worse than mere cookies which pushing a few buttons regularly eliminated 90% of the scrubbing the spyware scanners would have to do. In fact I've stopped running my spyware scrubbers very much just like I rely on my resident AV scanner and no longer run a manual AV scan except very rarely.
I'll tell you, I was pretty convinced Webroot was far above and beyond all the other anti-spyware software out there when I ran it on several machines that were regularly scanned by Spybot and Ad-Aware, because it found a number of things that the others appeared to have missed.. Until I read something in a computer mag that reviewed a bunch of different anti-spyware solutions, and noted that webroot detected a number of false positives.. It is also relevant to note that both of those free solutions suffered somewhere in the neighborhood of about a 55% detection rate, where the commercial McAfee product was around 97% accurate (IIRC)..
That is NOT a small number...that is a BIG number. Computer over? Virus = very yes?!...and the Compy...just peed my carpet...
Strongsad: Strongbad, have you been using the internet irresponsibly?
Strongbad: No more irresponsibly than usual...
Strongsad: Strongbad, did you get a virus?
Strongbad: Uh...Nooooo.....
Strongsad: Strongbad, did you get 400,000 viruses?
Strongbad: Yes, VERY YES!
Content Management System: A pretentious way of saying "text editor."
If someone is following me around town, that would be called stalking. If you can't call "tracking" cookies spyware, what's another good descriptive term, stalkware? And exactly how is your average end user supposed to know what cookie does what?
The BBC is reporting that in Poland, 133 of every 1,000 domestic PCs are Windows free.
Enterprise was updated from 2.1 to 2.5 in November, and it's been an utter disaster for us (resellers).
We've had to uninstall it at about half the sites and Webroot's SE who came to town while helpful, obviously wasn't able to fix what is fundamentally broken software.
I've found one of the better combinations for eliminating stuff is booting to safe mode and scanning with both MS AntiSpyware and Kaspersky. Ideally I remove the disk and jack it into a USB enclosure and scan it as if it was a passive data drive.
1) Don't make it profitable to sell spyware blockers, disinfectants, etc.
2) NAIL the fuckers who use this stuff in their products. The CEO of Gator should have been thrown in jail for the rest of his natural life back when this sort of behaviour started. Unfortunately, no one listens to the warnings when the thin edge of the wedge is pressed against our throats. No one took spam seriously when we were telling the world that Cantor and Seigel should be disbarred, no one worried about browser pop-ups and crappy adware, and now we see that no one expected spyware to be a virulent menace.
All I can say about is this: Suck it up folks. Through inaction, you've made your own bed.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
now the question is, where / how did they get infected. :P
:P
/:O
i'm guessing here (from my ownz surfing experience)
that at least 30 % is from infected emails and another
40 % from "naughty" websites.
it's pretty logical. people like "naughty" pictures,
so if i were a malicous person -or- a moral person(*),
depends on the way you look at it, i'd have many
references to naked britney spears pics et al.
(*) how to keep the internet "clean"? disable computers
of horney users, easy. the whole trojan/spyware mess
might even be a "black op" by the u.s. goverment to
polish the souls of those dirty white men
disclaimer: i'm with any kind of infection, physical
or electronic (on xp) and proud of it
We take responsibility for the web. We hunt down the criminals. We ensure that the young people understand that it is not cool to write and release viruses. If we can have hundreds of thousands of people searching for non-existant aliens with the SETI program, then we can organize the same hundreds of thousands of people to search for data criminals, who are all too real.
No one takes the geek community seriously because we don't take ourselves seriously. We have no independent review board of the technology that we create before we give it to the politicians or corporations. Then we are free to accept no responsibility for what they do with it.
What I'm proposing is change in consciousness in the geek community. An awareness that we are responsible for what other people do with what we create, and we have the power to control how this technology that we create will be used.
When and if this change in consciousness occurs, then we will be more powerful than the governments and the corporations. The geek community can exist without the governments and corporations, but they can't exist without us.
On average, a whole 20 pieces of spyware? Where I work, on AVERAGE, the PCs we see have in excess of 500. I'm talking ad/spy ware not including the bonus virus, trojans, et al. This crap ranges from mild to extreme. From being installed via customer ignorance or stupidity ( there IS a difference )to coming in thru drive by in IE exploits(which I guess could fall under ignorance or stupidity).
Since everyone is guessing where they get their numbers from, I'd thought I'd add mine: They have a free spyware scan on their site. They can tell where people are when they visit and scan. Their scan doesn't remove spyware by the way, just tells you what you have so that you'll by SpySweeper.