Whereas most computer viruses infiltrate targeted machines as drive-by downloads that are completely imperceptible to the naked eye, some of the present-day infections stick to a spreading methodology that’s technically legitimate. This craftiness primarily applies to malicious apps called adware. Its distribution isn’t about exploiting software vulnerabilities in a behind-the-scenes fashion, nor does it rely on any sort of remote access to the operating system. Instead, adware tends to be wrapped into the setups for popular apps, the relative deceptiveness of this process not entailing law enforcement investigation or prosecution against whoever runs these campaigns.
Such a spreading technique is not off-limits from a legal perspective as long as the mentions of a program inclusion into an installation package are in place. However, this process is deliberately made vague and inconspicuous to the user. The Malware Detective site has got a good point in this regard:
The information about adware is not necessarily clear or immediately visual. It can be placed in EULA that many users do not read because it is usually lengthy and often difficult to understand.
Popular free utilities are a goldmine to the makers of adware promotion-wise. The apps that are most frequently involved in this accomplice-based model include file downloaders, media players, FTP utilities, PDF converters as well as modified variants of Flash Player or Adobe Reader. A specific example of such application is the widely used FileZilla, which is a free FTP solution. Its setup was found to also promote potentially unwanted software called Omiga-Plus and Vosteran Search . Said entities are in fact hijackers that change one’s browsing preferences without being so authorized by the user. The workflow for FileZilla installation does include a notice about the bundle, but it’s not really upfront and it doesn’t say how aggressive the accompanying app is. As a result, users end up getting infected with a hard-to-remove adware bug.
The whole post-factum frustration from having to take care of adware can be avoided by carefully examining the setup terms for free apps. The key takeaway to keep in mind is the increasing trickiness of the bad guys’ tactics, so it won’t hurt to spare an extra minute or two reading EULA and thus prevent the computer contamination.
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