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zCodec Video Codec Is a Trojan

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the who-is-watching-whom? dept.

Bride of Chucky writes "There's a new video codec out there that claims to offer 'up to 40 percent better video quality' but that resets your computer's DNS settings — opening the way for Trojans, rootkits, or whatever. Techworld warns that zCodec looks professional enough, is widely available, and comes in at 100KB. What's the bet the media companies are behind this somewhere?"

14 of 188 comments (clear)

  1. Rather than the conspiracy theory. by Spazntwich · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd give a lot more consideration to an enterprising spammer/botnet advertiser being behind this.

    Follow the money. The MPAA has plenty to make off p2p lawsuits to risk the kind of bad press and fines they'd get by doing something like this.

    Basically, the submitter is an irrational idiot pandering to the anarchist conspiracy theorists in an attempt to start a flamewar. Congratulations, you've probably got it.

    1. Re:Rather than the conspiracy theory. by MustardMan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      While I agree that the submitter is probably full of shit... your argument is kind of weak. Try a little word-replacement and see what you get...

      "Follow the money. Sony has plenty to make off hardware and music sales to risk the kind of bad press and fines they'd get by installing a rootkit on your computer"

      Sony makes a whole fuckload more money from their products than the MPAA gets from suing grandmothers, and that sure didn't stop them from one of the biggest PR blunders by a tech company in recent memory.

      It's far more likely that a script kiddie or spammer type is responsible... but I would NOT put this sort of thing past the shitbags at the MPAA.

    2. Re:Rather than the conspiracy theory. by kripkenstein · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'd give a lot more consideration to an enterprising spammer/botnet advertiser being behind this.

      Exactly.

      We have no evidence for the media corporations being involved in such actions; and it wouldn't make much sense for them to do so, either. This adware will make money; money is something that media companies already have, but adware companies constantly work to get. What the media companies need is not more money, but to scare people off of using p2p software - and this isn't the way to do that. No, the way to scare people would be to damage their computers, not to make money off of them.

    3. Re:Rather than the conspiracy theory. by svunt · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Basically, the submitter is an irrational idiot pandering to the anarchist conspiracy theorists in an attempt to start a flamewar.
      Wow, is this an extension of an eye for an eye? Now we're up to 'a kneejerk asstard for a kneejerk asstard'. The submitter has as much right to make stupid links between some malware and the **AA as you have linking his silly analysis to anarchism.
  2. Huh? by WD · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What are "the media companies" and why would they be behind this?

  3. Why are the media companies being accused? by Refelian · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Is there any evidence that they are behind this codec?

    Don't you think that after the sony rootkit most companies wouldnt bother with such schemes....

  4. Hmm. by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    What's the bet the media companies are behind this somewhere?

    A tin-foil hat is a mark of someone who can, in all seriousness, say 'if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it must be a concealed listening device placed by the government under the instruction of the military-industrial complex and funded by the media industry.' The poster should wear his with pride.

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  5. "looks professional enough"?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "looks professional enough"?? No way! It has a direct link to the .exe from the front page, without any annoying EULA or email-address harvesting page to click through first. That's a dead giveaway that this isn't legit! (Sad but true.)

  6. No need for conspiracies... by AgentPaper · · Score: 4, Insightful
    ...user stupidity makes a dandy explanation. If there is a universal truth in today's networked world, it is that the gullibility of the average Netizen knows no bounds. I'd be willing to bet that you could write a program that claims to turn your printer into a replicator, and some doofus would buy it.

    This ranks right up there with the scores of malware programs that pretend to be malware removers. I assume the original poster would have us believe that all those are really written by the likes of Symantec and McAfee?

    --
    First rule of trauma: Bleeding always stops.
    1. Re:No need for conspiracies... by atomicstrawberry · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This ranks right up there with the scores of malware programs that pretend to be malware removers. I assume the original poster would have us believe that all those are really written by the likes of Symantec and McAfee?

      What, like Norton Antivirus? It's often installed without you asking for it, it consumes vast amounts of resources, it embeds itself into your operating system's interface, it hides itself from other programs, it phones home regularly, and it's extremely difficult to remove.

  7. Oh please... by kentrel · · Score: 5, Insightful
    What's the bet the media companies are behind this somewhere?

    That's incredibly presumptuous and a completely baseless accusation. There are lots of people who can clearly benefit from trojans, and someone obviously has seen the potential in video codecs as a nice "social engineering" way of fooling the gullible masses into downloading them. The average person generally searches for video codecs once in a blue moon - they have no way of knowing which sites are legitimate, or which files are legitimate. They'll download whatever sounds promising. In fact, the website looks far more legitimate than some of the genuine codec sites out there.

    Smarter users might do regular intensive searching to make sure they are getting a legitimate file, but the average user will not. It's far more likely that the author of this trojan is just exploiting the fact that so many users of codecs are clueless than yet another paranoid conspiracy that the media companies are behind it. Really, will the slashdot editors ever get over their bias and just print actual NEWS.

  8. Send someone to jail by Lord+Apathy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Enough is a enough. A message needs to be sent to these bastards. Suing and fines only do so much. They fine these bastards, they file for bankruptcy and its over. They close the company and the fines and suits go away. Can't sue what doesn't exist and current corp. laws protect us from going after personal assets.

    Time to bring some real charges against these fuckers and send a few of them to prison for a good long stretch. And I'm not talking 6 months in a jail with 500 hours of community service. I'm talking 10 years in maximum security.

    I know some people say the punishment doesn't fit the crime but I think its time it did. If we would have locked up some of them bastards from Sony then I bet this one wouldn't' happen.

    --

    Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification

  9. No bet... by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...because even if it were true, we'd likely never see proof. As such, that kind of speculation in a story submission is immature on the part of the submitter and allowing it to go out unedited is irresponsible of the editor. (Bonus points if they're the same person, I didn't check.)

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  10. Re:What! by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    From the summary: "zCodec looks professional enough..."

    So I clicked on the zcodec.com link above and the first thing I noticed was the use of some copyrighted movie posters on their page. And then I saw the link for the "therms of use." "Professional enough" indeed...

    --
    This guy's the limit!