I confirm that this is the case, as I work at one of the first institutions to identify and block this threat.
It is damgerous.
Worse, Marketscore have released an update (which is automatically installed without your knowledge), and now the traffic is not re-routed through MarketScore servers. This means it can't be blocked anymore.
The new spyware is still sending copies of your web activity to MarketScore though, including contents of SSL sessions.
I disagree, this software has been observed in a security lab environment transmitting very sensitive information back to MarketScore eg all the credit card details needed to make a credit card payment online. MarketScore store all of this information and more.
They can say what they like, but they can't 100% protect the information (what about a crooked employee?), and if this continues, one day their 'customers' will be the victims.
MarketScore is just a shell company anyway, and although their parent company is cashed up, when this goes bad the victims can forget about compensation.
I was surprised to find out so many big companies were buying the data collected from MarketScore.
One even inlcuded a bank who's customers were being put at risk by the software (it collected their Internet Banking credentials and credit card details).
Symantec were unaware that Marketscore was using their AV software in this manner. My colleage alerted Symantec to this and Symantec demanded that their brand be removed from the web site.
I wouldn't be surprised if MarketScore were breaching their license by running Symantec software on their victim's PC. Why? Because how expensive would an AV license be for a company to be able to run it on all of their 'customers' PCs, losing Symantec many potential customers?
They couldn't afford to give away a service like that if they were doing it legitimately.
In fact a colleague of mine alerted the Antivirus vendor who's logo ComScore splashed all over their site (to advertise the virus scanning feature). And they immediately forced MarkeScore to remove their logo and stop mentioning their brand name.
Who can blame them after the way ComScore set their lawyers onto any Antivirus company that labelled MarketScore as spyware?
I can't see how MarketScore can offer virus protection, as their latest insidious version doesn't redirect internet traffic through marketScore servers, it just picks out snippets of 'interesting' information about your browsing to send to ComScore's servers. Unless they have AV software embedded in the spyware, then they're lying about that too. If ComScore have AV software in their spyware, where do the updates come from? Do they have an appropraite license to use the AV software like this from the vendor?
ComScore are very agressive about anyone calling their software spyware. It clearly is spyware, but any US company who calls it spyware (eg Antivirus companies and Universities get sued by ComScore's agressive lawyers. Microsoft is the only company standing up to them at present. Is this a case unstoppable force meets immovable object?
It's a farce that any spyware writer with enough money can stop their rubbish being called spyware.
What if someone else who used the computer installed ? It spies on anyone who uses the computer afterwards whether or not they read the terms and conditions or agreed to install it.
I just want to emphasise here - this software spies on your SSL sessions. It can capture all of your credit cards transactions, usernames and passwords, including those for internet banking, sharetrading etc.
What if an employee of MarketScore uses this data for fraud?
Or worse, what if they sell it to those organised crime gangs running the online banking frauds and scams?
How can ComScore protect against that?
No doubt they are just a shell company
Software is spyware if it installs itself without your knowledge or misrepresents its purpose, and monitors what you do.
Marketscore software used to be promoted as an internet accelerator. It never accelerated internet performance, instead re-routing all of your internet usage through it's spy servers.
It contains software that allows the company to update the software without your permission. The latest version just sends a copy of your private web browsing details to Commscore, reducing your internet bandwidth, giving you no benefit (not that it ever was beneficial).
What if you installed it as an accelerator and read and accepted the terms and conditions? Now it's spying on you and not doing what it said it would when you accepted the agreement.
What if someone else installed it (ie your child) and now it spys on what you do, even though you didn't accept the agreement or even know it was on your computer?
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I confirm that this is the case, as I work at one of the first institutions to identify and block this threat. It is damgerous. Worse, Marketscore have released an update (which is automatically installed without your knowledge), and now the traffic is not re-routed through MarketScore servers. This means it can't be blocked anymore. The new spyware is still sending copies of your web activity to MarketScore though, including contents of SSL sessions.
I disagree, this software has been observed in a security lab environment transmitting very sensitive information back to MarketScore eg all the credit card details needed to make a credit card payment online. MarketScore store all of this information and more. They can say what they like, but they can't 100% protect the information (what about a crooked employee?), and if this continues, one day their 'customers' will be the victims. MarketScore is just a shell company anyway, and although their parent company is cashed up, when this goes bad the victims can forget about compensation.
I was surprised to find out so many big companies were buying the data collected from MarketScore. One even inlcuded a bank who's customers were being put at risk by the software (it collected their Internet Banking credentials and credit card details).
Symantec were unaware that Marketscore was using their AV software in this manner. My colleage alerted Symantec to this and Symantec demanded that their brand be removed from the web site. I wouldn't be surprised if MarketScore were breaching their license by running Symantec software on their victim's PC. Why? Because how expensive would an AV license be for a company to be able to run it on all of their 'customers' PCs, losing Symantec many potential customers? They couldn't afford to give away a service like that if they were doing it legitimately.
In fact a colleague of mine alerted the Antivirus vendor who's logo ComScore splashed all over their site (to advertise the virus scanning feature). And they immediately forced MarkeScore to remove their logo and stop mentioning their brand name. Who can blame them after the way ComScore set their lawyers onto any Antivirus company that labelled MarketScore as spyware? I can't see how MarketScore can offer virus protection, as their latest insidious version doesn't redirect internet traffic through marketScore servers, it just picks out snippets of 'interesting' information about your browsing to send to ComScore's servers. Unless they have AV software embedded in the spyware, then they're lying about that too. If ComScore have AV software in their spyware, where do the updates come from? Do they have an appropraite license to use the AV software like this from the vendor?
ComScore are very agressive about anyone calling their software spyware. It clearly is spyware, but any US company who calls it spyware (eg Antivirus companies and Universities get sued by ComScore's agressive lawyers. Microsoft is the only company standing up to them at present. Is this a case unstoppable force meets immovable object? It's a farce that any spyware writer with enough money can stop their rubbish being called spyware.
What if someone else who used the computer installed ? It spies on anyone who uses the computer afterwards whether or not they read the terms and conditions or agreed to install it.
I just want to emphasise here - this software spies on your SSL sessions. It can capture all of your credit cards transactions, usernames and passwords, including those for internet banking, sharetrading etc. What if an employee of MarketScore uses this data for fraud? Or worse, what if they sell it to those organised crime gangs running the online banking frauds and scams? How can ComScore protect against that? No doubt they are just a shell company
Software is spyware if it installs itself without your knowledge or misrepresents its purpose, and monitors what you do. Marketscore software used to be promoted as an internet accelerator. It never accelerated internet performance, instead re-routing all of your internet usage through it's spy servers. It contains software that allows the company to update the software without your permission. The latest version just sends a copy of your private web browsing details to Commscore, reducing your internet bandwidth, giving you no benefit (not that it ever was beneficial). What if you installed it as an accelerator and read and accepted the terms and conditions? Now it's spying on you and not doing what it said it would when you accepted the agreement. What if someone else installed it (ie your child) and now it spys on what you do, even though you didn't accept the agreement or even know it was on your computer?