The "Wizzards" of Adware

http://blog.talosintel.com/2016/04/the-wizzards-of-adware.html

by based2 • 10 years ago

68 9 10 years ago

blog.talosintel.com

based2• 10 years ago

http://blog.talosintel.com/2016/04/the-wizzards-of-adware.ht...

"“With a network display 11.7 million PCs installed worldwide, Tuto4pc.COM GROUP achieved a turnover of € 12 million during the year 2014.”"

petetnt• 10 years ago

The statement provided by the company in question is kinda hilarious, basically "Our software totally behaves like malware but don't you dare to say it or you'll be hearing from our team of rabid lawyers!"

YeGoblynQueenne• 10 years ago

> Contrary to Talos’ wrongful allegations, our business has been approved by French regulators and we have never been indicted or sued for any malware distribution!!!!

Oh dear. Four exclamation marks? Someone's about to start wearing their underpants on their head, methinks. [1]

_________

[1] http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Multiple_exclamation_marks

ae_keji• 10 years ago

This is fascinating, malware is being distributed in broad daylight by companies registered and operating in developed countries. Attacks from single users in, or pretending to be in, Eastern Europe or some other area with weaker unauthorized access laws seem to be getting less popular, as hackers are realizing technology and methods of unauthorized access are developing a lot faster than laws can keep up with them.

siculars• 10 years ago

The doublespeak is real.

kefka• 10 years ago

I'm not sure how to take this.

On the simple review, this seems like garbageware and a nice exploit. But the name PUP gives it away; potentially unwanted programs. We can't say for sure that the user didn't want them.

Now, if the program resists removal at the behest of the user, then yes, it's malware. But I've done computer work back in the day with Bonzi Buddy, and there real users who wanted that pile-o-crap on their computer.It was very much wanted, and went out of their way to get.

matt_morgan• 10 years ago

But the software does lots of things the users didn't ask for, wouldn't expect, and aren't told about. That's over a line.

dang• 10 years ago

Url changed from http://www.securityweek.com/cisco-finds-backdoor-installed-1..., which points to this.

duskwuff• 10 years ago

Caveat: The original article doesn't include the response by Tuto4PC.

The "Wizzards" of Adware

Related Stories