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(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Sep 26th 2005 1:39am





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.

7 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  

    System Restore?

    identicon
    dorpus, Sep 26th, 2005 @ 1:54am

    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 | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    spyware fighters

    identicon
    Dorian, Sep 26th, 2005 @ 8:15am

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

    thanks,

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  

    Re: spyware fighters

    icon
    Mike (profile), Sep 26th, 2005 @ 9:37am

    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 | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  

    Spyware targets

    identicon
    Anonymous of Course, Sep 26th, 2005 @ 10:37am

    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 | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  

    Re: Spyware targets

    icon
    Mike (profile), Sep 26th, 2005 @ 10:53am

    WinXP/Firefox.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  

    Mac OS X

    identicon
    fuzzmanmatt, Sep 26th, 2005 @ 8:40pm

    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 | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    icon
    MIKEMJF (profile), Dec 29th, 2009 @ 6:55am

    You are running 3 different spyware programs and an AV? That is too much! They are probably conflicting with one another and are so busy identifying each other as malware that they cannot see the forest for the trees!

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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