NWA-PCUG Newsletter Article, March 2008
StopBadware.org Fights Online Malware
By Ira Wilsker, APCUG Director;
Columnist, The Examiner, Beaumont, TX; Radio & TV Show Host

Iwilsker@apcug.net
(click to email author)


WEBSITES:
http://www.stopbadware.org
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk
http://www.consumerwebwatch.org
http://www.stopbadware.org/home/help_remove - Remove badware info
http://www.safer-networking.org - The GENUINE free Spybot
http://www.siteadvisor.com - McAfee SiteAdvisor
http://www.hautesecure.com

I have written many columns about the malware (dangerous software and websites) that inhabit the internet and lay in wait for the unsuspecting victim. Readers have asked me, “Why doesn’t somebody do something about it?” Well, somebody has done something about the multitude of hazards that we face while surfing the net. An organization founded by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at the Harvard Law School (cyber.law.harvard.edu/home), Oxford Internet Institute (http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk ), and the Consumer Reports WebWatch (http://www.consumerwebwatch.org), was created to deal with online malware and web borne attacks, this organization being “Stop Badware”, whose motto is “Regaining control of our computers”. Stop Badware describes itself as the “Neighborhood watch campaign aimed at fighting badware. Obviously this Herculaneum project would require some significant funding, which is generously provided by such cyber heavy weights as Google, Lenova, PayPal, Sun Microsystems, and VeriSign.

Stop Badware states that there are several types of badware such as spyware, malware, and deceptive adware. According to the StopBadware.org website, “Badware is malicious software that tracks your moves online and feeds that information back to shady marketing groups so that they can ambush you with targeted ads.” This includes those irritating and unwanted pop-up advertisements, and other atrocities which deprive us of much of our internet satisfaction.

Malware can track your every move while on the internet, and report your personal information and habits to parties unknown for both commercial and nefarious purposes. According to the site (http://www.stopbadware.org/home/help), there are 59 million Americans who currently have computers infested with spyware and other malicious badware. Most forms of malware get on the infected computer without the victim knowing that they have downloaded it or installed it as a part of some other software product. Some dishonest websites can place malware on your computer by simply visiting that particular website; as I type this, StopBadware.org is reporting that there are 249,764 such dangerous websites just waiting to ensnare another innocent victim.. Another way that badware can get onto victim computers is from what appears to be online games.

Malware can adversely effect the performance of the computer causing significant slow downs and crashes. Some malware, usually of the spyware variety, can be used to steal your identity. Badware is typically not from some spoiled 15 year old with too much time on his hands, but comes as a result of a business enterprise, sometimes criminal, that generates in excess of $2 billion annually.

Badware and other malware must be removed from your computer in order to help ensure your computing safety, security, and performance. Help is offered online at http://www.stopbadware.org/home/help_remove). As has been mentioned in this column previously, there is an abundance of both commercial and legitimate freeware products that can be used to protect your computer from badware infection, and to remove any malware already on the computer. Almost all internet security suites from the major security software publishers such as Trend Micro, Symantec, McAfee, Computer Associates, Panda, Kaspersky, Comodo, BitDefender, AVG, Eset, and others can provide adequate protection, detection, and removal of badware. Several of the dedicated anti-spyware products such as the free Spybot Search & Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org), Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com, available in both free and commercial versions), Windows Defender (free from Microsoft), Spyware Doctor, Spy Sweeper, and CounterSpy, as well as several others will do a yeoman job of protecting the computer from most types of spyware and other malware.

Badware is not just the traditional computer virus, which is now but a small minority of cyber threats, but malware from other nefarious online resources such as websites, and software bundles. So many sites are currently hosting badware that as of January, Google is now presenting a warning to users when websites located in a search are known to contain malware that can infect the user who visits that website.

Some popular websites, software, and online services are labeled by StopBadware (http://www.stopbadware.org/home/reports) as containing badware, and should be avoided by the computer user. One such extremely popular, but dangerous, online service is the KaZaa file sharing service which is often used to illegally swap copyrighted music and other intellectual property (http://www.stopbadware.org/reports/reportdisplay?reportname=kazaa). StopBadware claims that, “ … Kazaa is badware because it misleadingly advertises itself as spywarefree, does not completely remove all components during the uninstall process, interferes with computer use, and makes undisclosed modifications to other software.”

An extremely popular and widely used utility, RealPlayer, was recently (January 28) declared as badware (http://www.stopbadware.org/reports/reportdisplay?reportname=realplayer01282008). StopBadware warns that, “We find that RealPlayer 10.5 is badware because it fails to accurately and completely disclose the fact that it installs advertising software on the user's computer. We additionally find that RealPlayer 11 is badware because it does not disclose the fact that it installs Rhapsody Player Engine software, and fails to remove this software when RealPlayer is uninstalled.”

There are several utilities that can alert the user if he is connecting to a dangerous website. MacAfee offers both free and commercial versions of its “SiteAdvisor” (http://www.siteadvisor.com) which informs the user of dangerous websites. Another similar product is Haute Secure, available for free download from http://www.hautesecure.com. Some internet security suites, such as Trend Micro’s Internet Security Suite 2008, include a real-time web monitor that blocks access to dangerous websites.

There are a lot of dangerous places on the web. StopBadware.org is providing an excellent resource and service to help clean up the internet, and protect us from harm.

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