More Spyware Hidden In Free Programs

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the forget-viruses,-watch-out-for-trojans dept

Wired has an article about yet more spyware hidden in music trading programs. This time they’re talking about VX2, which was hidden in Audio Galaxy for a month or so last year. The program starts popping up ads on sites that don’t serve their own popups and (much, much worse) records data that you enter into online forms (including possibly your credit card). What’s worse is that no one seems to (1) know anything about VX2 or (2) take responsibility for the program getting into Audio Galaxy. The only contact info for VX2 is a hotmail address that no one seems to answer. Audio Galaxy says the program was included in a deal with another company that bundles programs. That company denies any knowledge of VX2 as well, though. If things like this keep up, it’s going to get riskier and riskier to download any software – even ones that are well known.