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"Trends" report encourages caution; users need not panic

Our "Trends in Badware 2007" report, released yesterday, has been picked up in a variety of blogs and news articles.

Reading through some of the coverage, a web user or site owner could be tempted to panic. After all, if one of the messages is that even legitimate sites and ad networks can be sources of badware, isn't the web itself becoming less safe?

Not really. What we have seen is just the latest shift in how attackers do their dirty work, and the Internet community is adjusting quickly, as it typically does. Search engines, browser companies, security vendors, volunteers, StopBadware, and other organizations have taken steps—from identifying and blocking access to infected sites to spreading the word about how to protect your PC or your web site—to minimize the threats and keep the Internet safe.

Mass e-mail worms, floppy disk-borne viruses... new threats are developed, new ways of addressing them are created, and soon they become threats of the past, just as the current threats will. The Internet has shown the potential to be a self-correcting system, and we here at StopBadware aim to ensure it stays that way.

Tags: 
analysis, press, stopbadware, trends

"Trends in Badware 2007" released

Posted on October 2, 2007 - 09:57 by egeorge

StopBadware is proud to release our 2007 update on the state of badware on the web - "Trends in Badware 2007: What internet users need to know." The short report is a plain-English explanation of badware threats to user privacy and security, based on our research over the past year. It explains online security issues such as compromised websites, social networking scams, and other badware trends that pose significant risk to the average internet user.

For many visitors to StopBadware.org, threats such as legitimate websites that have been hacked to distribute badware may not be news. We're hoping our security-conscious visitors will help us spread the word to those who aren't yet aware of the dangers. "Trends in Badware" is written with nontechnical internet users in mind - folks who love using the internet, but who may not yet have learned about newer badware threats.

As StopBadware's co-director John Palfrey says in our press release, "Now, users can get infected by simply browsing a reputable website or clicking on links posted to their favorite blogs or social networks. We want to make sure that consumers have up-to-date information on emerging trends so they know what to look for when online."

StopBadware's mission is to help educate consumers and average internet users about badware, and to help the community fight back. We hope that "Trends in Badware 2007" can help clear the fog around online dangers and empower ordinary internet users to take charge of their computers' security.

You can download "Trends in Badware 2007" here.

Tags: 
badware, consumer, education, stopbadware

Rogue Anti-Spyware

Posted on September 28, 2007 - 17:43 by jcallina

So, Grandpa Albert thinks he might have badware on his computer. It’s just not running the way it used to. Everything is slow. He doesn’t see any pop-up ads like last time but these days it feels like he’s always waiting for something to finish processing.

Grandpa Albert is too cheap to hire any “Nerd Herd†techies to come over so he calls his tech savvy niece, Aimee. She suspects that his computer may be part of a bot network. Millions of computers on the internet today are part of bot networks and there’s a high likelihood that Grandpa innocently visited a hacked site which downloaded infected software without his knowledge.

“Darn criminals,†Grandpa mutters on the phone. “No one’s controlling my hard earned CPU cycles without MY consent!â€

Aimee doesn’t have the time to stop by because she’s working on a presentation for the She’s Geeky Un-conference in Mountain View this October. In the meantime, she tells him to try downloading some anti-spyware and she’ll troubleshoot when she can visit later.

Grandpa Albert surfs the net searching for the products Aimee suggested. Seems like there are tons of anti-spyware products out there making lots of promises. He tries typing in ‘spy bot’ into his search engine. Hmmmm. Which one is the right one? Should he download www.Spy-Bot.net, www.SpyWareBot.com, www.SpyBot-SD.net, www.Spybot.com or one of the others?

Grandpa Albert shakes his head. He remembers the scolding Aimee gave him that last time he downloaded a random application from the internet. He didn’t know back then that the screensaver had installed trojans, dialers and all kinds of bad things onto his computer. This time he’d be more careful. Best to stick to the applications Aimee suggested.

He tries typing in ‘ad aware’ into his search engine. Hmmmm. There’s www.AdwareAlert.com and Noadware.net. They both have adware in the title but what about the one from www.LavaSoft.com? They all look good. They all have professional websites. How can he be sure?

Grandpa scratches his head. He types in ‘anti-spyware’ into his search engine and starts surfing around to learn more. He stumbles across Spyware Warrior’s List of Rogue/Suspect Anti-Spyware Products & Web Sites.

Ha! This site says that spy-bot.net is associated with AlertSpy which is on Spyware Warrior’s list as a rogue and suspect application. Spywarebot.com is on the Spyware Warrior list too.

Spyware Warrior says that some of the products listed on this Rogue Anti-Spyware site don’t really provide anti-spyware protection at all and some of them even install spyware/adware themselves!

“Darn criminals,†Grandpa Albert mutters to himself. “These folks are deliberately playing upon name recognition to get their sleazy software installed on my system!â€

Yep.

Tags: 
anti, rogue, spyware, warrior

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