Spyware Warning

[Oldy]

Hi guys,

Came across this article whilst rummaging about the other day - thx goes out to Biikman for the original heads-up

http://camtech2000.net/Newsletters/a...are_tactic.htm

Clever eh, an Advertising company pretending to be a spyware remover - what next? A bug free M$ app?

Oldy

[mag046]

Thanks for the read Oldy...much appreciated. The worst thing about it is that it will probably only get worse.

Users can never be too careful, sad to say that we have to investigate and "read the fine print" on every app we use. Gone are the days of trusting everybody...

[ChiMusic]

Read the JUNO ISP license garbage. They will cal YOUR computer via YOUR number to get in and get the info you argree too. The larger series also D/Ls AD screen savers to you. At least that is FREE!

[LaZorMan]

Amazing...

LaZorMan

[VIPER_1069]

thats just downright nasty in its own right !?

[lotusfang]

Next we may have Anti-virus cos. releasing viruses as updates

- LF

[The-poacher]

Not so far off bud I'm convinced Norton (symantec IE Microsux) put out most of the virii to make usbut the s/ware.

[mag046]

Case in point...

http://features.slashdot.org/feature....shtml?tid=166

This news is a little old, and Im not even sure if it is true or not...who is to say? This article sure peaked my interest in the possibility. I definitely agree with The-poacher on this one...

[NoSpam]

I think what originally started they paranoia about AV companies writing viruses was the bad press that McAfee got over they news hype they created about the Michelangelo virus years ago. The hype was much worse than the threat ever was, and they got tagged for creating the problem because of their overblown the world's coming to an end doom and gloom press. They basically created and hyped the fear that sold many copies of their virus scanner, when the threat from that virus never was as great as they intentionally made it appear, and the virus was not as widespread as they claimed. Did all the press the virus received help prevent damage? Yes. But it was still way overblown, and it tarnished McAfee's image at the time, and people have a long memory.

Another thing that has helped continue the stories that AV companies write viruses is bad press from sharing virus samples. Its been a long time since I've moderated an AV forum, but there are (were?) organizations that would certify AV scanners against their "zoo" of viruses, and make available samples of viruses that the scanner didn't detect. That isn't as necessary now that many scanners include a built in mechanism to send in suspected infected files. Used to be, the AV companies techs would want you to send possible viruses to them via e-mail encrypted with their public PGP key.

NoSpam

[mag046]

Interesting point NoSpam...things advance so quickly we have to remember that the situation you talk of wasnt that long ago... Thanks for the info, very good point you made.