(Mis)Uses of Technology

(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick




Citizen Malware?

from the whoops dept

Apparently OhMyNews, the Korean site that was the first major proponent of the citizen journalism concept, got hit with a bit of malware over the weekend that could have been installed on the computers of visitors to the site. It's a reminder that things like trojans and keyloggers are increasingly sneaking their way onto computers through completely legitimate sites that have been compromised. I recently got hit with one such trojan, despite using 3 different anti-spyware apps and an anti-virus app -- not to mention not downloading random crap and generally trying to stay on known websites. It took quite a bit of effort (and some help from some smart spyware fighters) to get rid of it, as it buried itself pretty deeply. In fact, in the end, I had six different anti-spyware products running on my machine -- and only two found the trojan, and neither could remove it.

6 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

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  1. Sep 26th, 2005 @ 1:54am

    System Restore?

    by dorpus

    On the few occasions I got infected, I found that System Restores to the day before infection cleared the problem. Did you try that?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  2. Sep 26th, 2005 @ 8:15am

    spyware fighters

    where did you, or would you suggest someone go, to find the "smart" spyware fighters you refer to?

    thanks,

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  3. Sep 26th, 2005 @ 9:37am

    Re: spyware fighters

    There are a few different places that all seem to have a similar group of folks who try to help you remove spyware from your machine with fairly detailed instructions:

    http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/security
    http://www.webuser.co.uk/forums/postlist. php/Cat/0/Board/hijackthis
    http://www.geekstogo.com/

    and a few other sites. If you to any of those and post a HiJackThis log, they're likely to help you out.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  4. Sep 26th, 2005 @ 10:37am

    Spyware targets

    by Anonymous of Course

    Mike, I'm wondering what browser and OS you were using when that happend. I don not want to start the tired old debates, I'm just curious.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  5. Sep 26th, 2005 @ 10:53am

    Re: Spyware targets

    WinXP/Firefox.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  6. Sep 26th, 2005 @ 8:40pm

    Mac OS X

    by fuzzmanmatt

    I'm still waiting for my first piece of spyware. I have VNC installed, but that doesn't cause me any problems, it helps out. The only thing I miss is Doom III, and... wait... I have that too... Hmm... now I'm at a loss as to how I should help to make you feel better about your choices in life...

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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