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Zango's continued bad practices in light of FTC's proposed settlement terms 11/20/2006 03:11 AM

Zango out of compliance with terms in every aspect of FTC proposed settlement per Edelman and Howes. Is the $3 million repayment of ill-gotten gains just a slap on the wrist?

Zango, the FTC, MySpace and You Tube 11/07/2006 12:18 AM

Using an electric mixer on medium high, beat cream in a medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gently fold cream into chocolate mixture until thoroughly combined. Divide mousse among 6 dessert bowls or 1-cup ramekins. Cover bowls loosely with plastic wrap and chill at least 4 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead; keep refrigerated.) Serve chilled, garnished with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon, if desired. Using an electric mixer on medium high, beat cream in a medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gently fold cream into chocolate mixture until thoroughly combined. Divide mousse among 6 dessert bowls or 1-cup ramekins. Cover bowls loosely with plastic wrap and chill at least 4 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead; keep refrigerated.) Serve chilled, garnished with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon, if desired.

Halloween sites tricking users with malware 10/27/2006 01:07 AM

Update October 27: This morning I contacted the owner of listed sites. The sites were indeed hacked, and the owner has since removed the malicious code from the web pages.This is a nasty trick! There are a few Halloween sites being used to distribute malware, right at the time when unsuspecting web users [...]

Scary malware tricks part 1 10/20/2006 04:57 PM

In keeping with this Halloween season, I’m starting a series on scary malware tricks, similar to last year’s series on spyware tricks. Perhaps my personal focus has changed, but it seems to me spyware tricks are becoming far more devious and destructive. Last year I was testing mostly adware, whereas this year I’m testing [...]

Edelman on 'Deceptive Door Openers' and Ask toolbars 10/16/2006 03:09 PM

In a new article posted this morning, Ben Edelman continues his investigation of high-profile companies clogging users' computers with junk.  Today's target: InterActiveCorp's Ask.com, known for its widespread "smiley" toolbars.Last year I blogged about Ask's various toolbars and the trinkets Ask uses to get users to install them.  But Ben thinks there's a bigger problem here.  [...]

Is Zango stealing affiliate commissions from adult webmasters? 10/14/2006 02:07 AM

It seems that Zango, formerly known as 180solutions, the company we all love to hate, has royally ticked off a bunch of adult webmasters. Paperghost, aka Chris Boyd, has the story, complete with links to forums where the adult webmasters discuss Zango allegedly stealing affiliate commissions.  True?  I don’t know, but considering some of Zango/180solutions’ past questionable business practices, [...]

So what about user education on security? 10/13/2006 02:05 AM

CNET's Joris Evers writes about one security expert who says education users on computer security in the enterprise setting is "pointless".  Doctoral candidate Stefan Gorling, speaking at the Virus Bulletin Conference, said:"I don't believe user education will solve problems with security because security will always be a secondary goal for users," Gorling said. "In order [...]

Malware being spammed as PDF from retail stores 10/11/2006 01:41 AM

Reports surfaced today of spam purporting to be from Dell, Walmart, Circuit City or Sony confirming an order for a Sony Vaio computer with a PDF attachment, but the attachment is, in fact, a very nasty piece of malware named Haxdoor. Text of email:Subject: Order ID : 37679041Dear Customer,Thank you for ordering from our internet shop. If [...]

MVP awards, Messenger Plus! and adware -- a good combination? 10/10/2006 02:19 AM

A controversy has been raging in certain circles the last few days over a MVP award, which has now been rescinded, to an adware pusher known as Patchou, Cyril Paciullo, the author of Messenger Plus!. There’s a lot of nonsense going around and I’d like to clear some of that up.

Spyware pushers cash in big on zero day exploit 09/21/2006 02:24 AM

Nearly 50 malware threats being installed though the VML zero day exploit, including familiar names like Virtumonde, BookedSpace, webHancer, SurfSideKick, Qoologic (also known as Qoolaid), Zenotecnico, TagAsaurus, with some trojan downloaders and a backdoor thrown in the mix. Many of these use affiliate programs where the affiliate gets paid per install, so somewhere affiliates of these adware/spyware companies are making a killing off this zero day exploit, trashing computers with their crapware.

Should anti-spyware programs remove cookies? 09/19/2006 03:17 AM

Spyware expert Ben Edelman has written a great piece on anti-spyware programs and cookies. He tested eleven different anti-spyware programs against cookies from 50 advertising systems and posted detailed results including which anti-spyware programs detected which cookies and which programs detected the most cookies.

DollarRevenue adware pushed through bot net for huge profits 09/08/2006 11:34 PM

German Honeynet Project researchers report that adware company DollarRevenue is directly linked to a bot net attack exploiting the MS06-040 server service vulnerability reported last month. Bot net trackers estimate that one malicious hacker alone earned $430 in one day by installing malware/adware programs on infected machines.

FTC settles with Enternet Media for $2 million 09/07/2006 12:06 AM

The Federal Trade Commission announced their settlement with Enternet Media for $2 million for putting spyware on users’ computers.Under a stipulated final judgment and order, the defendants are permanently prohibited from interfering with a consumerâs computer use, including but not limited to distributing software code that tracks consumersâ Internet activity or collects other personal information, [...]

The state of spyware according to Webroot 08/16/2006 03:43 AM

Webroot released its quarterly report on spyware today, claiming spyware infection rates are at their highest since 2004. During the second quarter of 2006, Webroot researchers found that 89 percent of consumer PCs were infected with an average of 30 pieces of spyware – a slight increase from the first quarter of 2006 when infection [...]

More disturbing long-tail content from Zango 08/14/2006 11:12 PM

SunbeltBLOG asks “Is Zango partnering with a bunch of sickos? ” I wonât repeat much whatâs posted there because itâs too disgusting, but hereâs the first part.

Movieland.com sued for spyware 08/14/2006 06:32 PM

Washington State Attorney General McKenna filed a suit against Movieland.com and 3 associates, all California based companies, for “installing software that takes control of a consumerâs computer by launching aggressive and persistent pop-ups that demand payment for a movie download service.”

Zango caught in lies about their software on MySpace? 07/28/2006 05:26 PM

Spyware researcher extraordinaire Chris Boyd, aka Paperghost of Vitalsecurity, has been pursuing Zangoâs entanglement with MySpace like a trusty hound dog on a trail. Now Boyd claims to have proof that Zango was, indeed, targeting MySpace.

Vonage and spyware 07/18/2006 05:10 AM

Ben Edelman has documented with screenshots, packet logs and diagrams the relationship between Vonage and spyware. Vonage is caught being advertised by pop-ups from Direct Revenue, Targetsaver and others, sometimes not in the appropriate circumstances.

Pushing Zango - out of MySpace 07/18/2006 03:00 AM

Last week I blogged about Pushing Zango on MySpace and linked to Paperghostâs blog asking if teenagers are being unwittingly used to push Zango on my space. It looks like Paperghost (aka Chris Boyd) managed to create a bit of a stir on the subject and now it looks like Zango is on its way out.