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  • Aureate spying - continued

    Hi all,

    Steve Gibson from GRC sent me this update on the Aureate spying, and what you can do about it!

    __________________________________________________ _______________

    Announcing my NEW freeware: " OptOut "
    __________________________________________________ _______________

    Internet Privacy:

    OptOut?

    Several weeks ago a scare swept through the Internet community regarding alleged Internet "spying" being done by a very popular advertising system known as "Aureate" (now renamed to "Radiate".) Since the Aureate system is "carried" into the user's PC by more than 400 popular freeware programs (like
    Go!Zilla, GetRight, CuteFTP, and others), and is currently installed and running in over TWENTY-TWO MILLION PC's!!, the threat that this software was "spying" on its users was of great and immediate concern.

    My initial analysis of the Aureate system revealed that MUCH of what had been claimed was completely unfounded. However, that analysis DID raise enough concern and questions that I decided to look further...

    What I discovered was that this system WAS secretly running as a "parasite" on your Netscape or Microsoft web browser, using your browser's Internet connection to communicate with Aureate servers in the background without the user's knowledge or explicit permission! This meant that the Aureate software was running and communicating over the Internet even when the hosting "carrier" freeware, which brought it into the system, was not running! This browser "parasite" had also been implicated in frequent crashes of those browsers. And even after the "freeware" which brought this parasitic software into the user's machine had been completely removed, THE AUREATE SYSTEM REMAINED INSTALLED AND OPERATING SECRETLY!

    This was not okay.

    A reading of Aureate's developer web site shows that the freeware authors are receiving payment from the advertisers in direct proportion to the number of advertisements actually viewed and the length of time they are shown. In order to do this, the actaul use of the various programs MUST be monitored and reported back to Aureate.

    This bothered me too.

    So ... since I already knew of other similar sounding problems with "Adbots" being secretly installed in user's machines (The ZoneAlarm firewall discovered a different one running in my own machine!), I decided to create an easy-to-use tool to check for the presence of known "baddies" and -- optionally -- remove them from the computer for the user.

    The program is called "OptOut" because it allows users to "opt out" of the use of unwanted advertising software on their machines.

    I wrote it in 100% assembly language over the past two weeks, it's a nifty little 32K bytes in size ... and the "Preview Release" is ready for you to use right now!

    Please see the new "OptOut" page on the grc.com web site for more information and news about Aureate and OptOut. You can download it from there too...
    http://grc.com/optout.htm
    __________________________________________________ _______________

    Jorden
    Jordâ„¢

  • #2
    suddenly there is aglimmering light and the end of the tunnel....
    The Welsh support two teams when it comes to rugby. Wales of course, and anyone else playing England

    Comment


    • #3
      suddenly there is aglimmering light and the end of the tunnel....
      The Welsh support two teams when it comes to rugby. Wales of course, and anyone else playing England

      Comment


      • #4
        suddenly there is aglimmering light and the end of the tunnel....
        The Welsh support two teams when it comes to rugby. Wales of course, and anyone else playing England

        Comment


        • #5
          suddenly there is aglimmering light and the end of the tunnel....
          The Welsh support two teams when it comes to rugby. Wales of course, and anyone else playing England

          Comment


          • #6
            Must be at least 3 mirrors in that tunnel that you post it 4 times

            But I've got that program running on my PC, and it discovered 4 different "aureate" like programs running on my PC (using Deep Scan)... Deleted them all, couldn't use Go!Zilla nomore, but at least I'm free

            Jord.
            Jordâ„¢

            Comment


            • #7
              Rotating mirrors in a tunnel, cool.

              It's a neat utility to know about programs like that, especially come uninstall time. I don't think removing the aureate programs before you uninstall the application that put it there is necessarily a good thing to do though, it could botch the programs uninstall process. If it's still there after you uninstall the program, then sure.

              Comment


              • #8
                Uninstalling the ofending SW app, does not remove the AD/Spying program(s). If you try to uninstall the Aureate stuff without the original app; it will be reinstalled (without your knowlege or aproval) next time the app is run! Unfortunatly they both have to go . And I like my Go!Zilla ;(.

                Mark F.

                ------------------
                OH NO, my retractable cup holder swallowed a DVD...
                and burped out a movie


                Mark F. (A+, Network+, & CCNA)
                --------------------------------------------------
                OH NO, my retractable cup holder swallowed a DVD...
                and burped out a movie

                Comment


                • #9
                  Nice to see some info from reliable, respected sources. Thanks, Jorden.

                  This topic has been appearing with some frequency in postings and on the news. Did some traveling recently and picked up a magazine at an airport put out by Smart Computing, Guide To PC Privacy. Lots of informative articles written in plain english for regular folks.

                  [This message has been edited by SCompRacer (edited 23 March 2000).]
                  MSI K7D Master L, Water Cooled, All SCSI
                  Modded XP2000's @ 1800 (12.5 x 144 FSB)
                  512MB regular Crucial PC2100
                  Matrox P
                  X15 36-LP Cheetahs In RAID 0
                  LianLiPC70

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Thanks, Jord.

                    Ya done good

                    ----------------
                    Holly
                    Holly

                    "All we need is a voluntary, free-spirited, open ended program of procreative racial deconstruction."
                    -Jay Bulworth

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Errrr, people, you're acting like if you don't use the sponsored version you'll be without the program...!

                      I myself installed the full version of Gozilla and CuteFTP over the sponsored versions, before I got Opt-Out.. which I ran today to delete the Aureate/Radiate files and reg entries.

                      Haven't used CuteFTP yet, but Go!Zilla is fine... because the full versions don't have these files integrated (though they still operate if they have been previously installed).

                      So buy the full version. Or you may find Guru's alternatives preferable....

                      -----------------
                      Holly

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Not totally true, Holly.

                        I've got the full version of Go!Zilla, downloaded it from the site (you know which), and installed it. Only a second afterwards OptOut told me the Aureate lurkers were installed again, and did I want to delete them? If I say yes, Go!Zilla isn't working anymore.

                        Btw, if you look at the advertising in the Go!Zilla ad-bar, it says it's using Aureate

                        So maybe someone should upload the version using no adverts to somewhere where we all can d/l it from??

                        Jord.

                        P.S: Thanks for the feathers, Scompy Two more and I can flyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

                        [This message has been edited by Jorden (edited 24 March 2000).]
                        Jordâ„¢

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Paddy [MU], It looks like your counter is stuck on 50 posts though! Lists the same amount, 50, on all your posts here.

                          Post again and see if it goes up!

                          --------------------------------------------
                          Vague attempts to LOL....

                          [This message has been edited by SCompRacer (edited 24 March 2000).]
                          MSI K7D Master L, Water Cooled, All SCSI
                          Modded XP2000's @ 1800 (12.5 x 144 FSB)
                          512MB regular Crucial PC2100
                          Matrox P
                          X15 36-LP Cheetahs In RAID 0
                          LianLiPC70

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Scomp, that's because the total posts show the same in whatever fori you click on Pat's profile... until he posts one more... then it'll be 51 posts in all fori.

                            Jord, now knowing what the reg'ed Go!Zilla means... so how do I hack out Aureate's ads in my 'hacked' version
                            Jordâ„¢

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              I don't know what to tell you, Jord... as I write this, I have successfully shut down, restarted the next day, scanned again and found nothing, opened Go!Zilla and scanned again... nothing... and d/l-ed files using it then scanned... no "spyware".

                              Only 2 things I can think of are:[list=1][*] We mean different things when we say "full version"... because the version of Go!Zilla that has ads <u>is</u> of course the full version... paid for (sponsored) by the advertisers. But I call this the "sponsored version" and when I say "full version" I mean the one that does not use ads, because it is paid for by the user (me). I doubt that you would or could have re-installed the sponsored version somehow... but perhaps a sponsored version of something else? I had installed the full versions of both Go!Zilla and CuteFTP before removing the spyware... but probably my sponsored version of PKZip is still trying to send TimeSink tsadbot messages (can't wait 'til Opt-Out can get rid of that as well, I've always hated it), despite my having uninstalled PKZip. With some 400 programs using the Aureate sponsorship process, it seems quite possible that you might have more than just the one (Go!Zilla).[*] Do you use the Monster Channels? That would seem to require communication between Aureate's servers (you all <u>do</u> know that Go!Zilla is an Aureate-owned program, right?) and your PC (since the Monster Channels are just paid advertising from D/L centers like ZDNet and all). So maybe that's what reinstalled the spyware. I personally turned the channels off, though I liked them at first... got sick of the blinking in my systray. Hunsow, maybe you can help--- do you use the Monster Channels, or no?[/list=a]

                              I know that these are both longshots, but even so, they're much more likely possibilities than that you misconfigured something...now, <u>that's</u> really unlikely.....

                              --------------------
                              Holly

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