Adware Nails MySpace Users

Potentially more than one million MySpace users may have been infected with adware according to this article

The deckoutyourdeck.com advertisement exploited a flaw in the way Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) browser handles Windows Metafile (WMF) image files. Users running unpatched versions of IE would never have realized that the banner ad had silently installed programs that generate pop-up ads on their system.

"This is a criminal act," said Hemanshu Nigam, chief security office at MySpace, in a statement to The Washington Post. "This ad is being delivered by ad networks who distribute these ads to over a thousand sites across the Internet in addition to ours. We are working to have these ad networks remove this ad so that they do not appear on our site."

Hackers Learning From Open-Source

Malware Now a Group Effort - Yahoo! News tells the story of hackers learning from the open-source playbook.

Nowhere is this more apparent than within the growing families of "bot" software, which allow hackers to remotely control infected computers. Unlike viruses of the past, bots tend to be written by a group of authors, who often collaborate by using the same tools and techniques as open source developers, said Dave Marcus, security research and communications manager with McAfee's Avert Labs.

"Over the last year and a half, we've noticed how bot development in particular has latched on to open-source tools and the open-source development model," he said.

The current generation of bot software has grown to the point where open-source software development tools make a natural fit. With hundreds of source files now being managed, developers of the Agobot family of malware, for example, are using the open-source Concurrent Versions System (CVS) software to manage their project.

Zango Spyware and MySpace

Zango may installing spyware on unsuspecting MySpace user machines after the users click a video link, according to this article:

A serendipitous search by Vitalsecurity.org through the profiles on MySpace for adware companies revealed profiles belonging to Zango. The Zango profiles were crafted to push Zango's products to visitors.

One profile pushes a toolbar and programs for protecting "kids from predators," noted Vitalsecurity. The other profile launches what looks like a typical video player seen on many MySpace profiles when visited.

For the careless user who does not read the fine print in the popup video player, clicking the big red Play Now button places the Zango Search Assistant and its Toolbar on the user's system. It's a twist on the typical enticement to download software the user may not want if he actually knew what was being downloaded.

Spyware researcher Ben Edelman has studied many adware companies, and he has a couple of articles on experiences with 180's Zango. One of his articles described how Zango placed a .dat file on a test machine; that file was loaded with 166,246 words and phrases that were used to trigger popups from 180 when the PC visited certain sites.

How To Remove Spyware And Adware

Spyware and Adware are very common on the internet now days. If you download music, picture, movies, and more on the internet, you are at a risk of having Spyware and Adware on your computer. Spyware and Adware can slow down your computer, give you nasty popup's and a lot of times have companies spy directly on your computer and steal your personal information. You do not have to deal with this anymore, you can actually remove spyware and adware, and you can remove it for free. The best way to remove spyware and adware are to download spyware removal tools. There are some spyware removal tools that are free, but the best ones you have to pay for. Since I am providing you with a free way to remove your virus, I am going to give you the top 3 free resources that will remove most of your spyware and adware from your computer.

1) Adaware 6.0 Adaware 6.0 is a free spyware and adware removal tool. It is definitely one of the best (if not the best) free spyware/adware removal tools. You get daily updates, easy to use interface, and fast scanning to delete the most common spyware and adware on your computer. One scanner will not do it all by itself though, which is why it is recommended to have up to 5 scanners protecting you sometimes. Overkill? Maybe. But is it worth protecting all your valuable information like Credit Cards? Yes!

2) Spybot Search and Destroy Although not as good as Adaware it comes in a close second. This program has an immuneizer built in that will automatically work with your internet browser to not allow you to go to known bad sites that give you viruses. This also enables you for free daily updates so you can be protected against the most common spyware/adware.

3) Spyware Blaster Spyware Blaster is not really a spyware/adware scanner, however it is a free tool that will keep your computer safe from disabling spyware/adware from downloading itself into your computer. With Spyware Blaster you eliminate spyware before it even comes on your computer, and you also receive free updates.

Still have spyware and adware on your computer? Get the best program that is guaranteed to remove all spyware and adware no matter what type it is visit http://truemonitors.com/noadware

Microsoft Anti-Piracy Software Sued As Spyware

Microsoft's WGA has been sued as spyware.

How can anti-piracy software be spyware? In the hyper-technical world of the class action lawsuit, anything is possible.

Brian Johnson of Los Angeles filed suit in Seattle federal court and immediately asked for class-action status. For those not familiar with the legal latin translation of "class-action" status, let me help

• Class Action Status: Latin, term used to describe the best method for forcing settlements from huge corporations wherein the settlements are 95% eaten by the lawyers filing the lawsuit.

According to this article:

"Microsoft's actions violated state consumer protection and anti-spyware statues," read the complaint. The papers cite California and Washington state laws that Microsoft has allegedly broken, including ones on the books in both states which define and ban spyware.

WGA, which just moved out of a pilot program in the U.S. and several other countries to take a
permanent role in combating piracy, consists of two tools downloaded to users' machines: one, dubbed Validation, checks for a legitimate copy of Windows XP, while the second, called Notification, displays on-screen warnings until the user ditches the counterfeit copy.

Parents Turning To Spyware

Parents think they might finally be getting comfortable enough with their computer hacking skills to try spying on their children, or so says this article BostonHerald.com - Local / Regional News: Parents try spyware to eye kids’ Web use

More than one in four parents say the prospect of their children spending too much time online is their main summertime child-care fear, according to a recent survey of 677 working parents by Com-Psych, a Chicago employee-assistance provider.

So an increasing number are investing in a new generation of software that is able to alert them, usually by e-mail and often instantaneously, when their children try to access a Web site that is off limits or type in a forbidden keyword or personal information such as a home address.

Good luck folks, but be careful what you wish for. You may wish you'd never learned what your kids were up to.

As Always: Beware of Free Porn!

One of the newest spyware threats is a program that lures visitors with promises of free porn. Word to the wise, always beware of free porn.

Once users are trapped by the new program, they are blackmailed into purchasing a program to clean the spyware infection. The new program is called DigiKeyGen, watch for it. The program generates passwords that are supposed to enable users to access porn sites for free. The program also simultaneously and silently installs spyware on the users computer. You guessed it, then comes the offer to clean up the spyware install for a measely 50 bucks.

Read more about the problem here.