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Plugin to detect adware spyware sites before you click them

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gregorylee

gregorylee

I'd rather be napping!!
http://www.techweb.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=181401811

March 01, 2006 (2:00 PM EST)
http://i.cmpnet.com/portal/blank.gif techweb techweb
techweb
Browser Plug-in Warns Of Surfing Risks Before Clicking


By Gregg Keizer, TechWeb News
http://i.cmpnet.com/portal/blank.gif
A company founded by several MIT engineers launched free Internet Explorer and Firefox plug-ins Wednesday that reveal dangerous Web sites listed by popular search engines.

With the plug-ins installed, users see green, yellow, or red tags beside hits in search results on Google, MSN, and Yahoo, said Boston-based SiteAdvisor. The tags -- red represents sites that heavily spam visitors, host spyware and adware, or hijack browser home pages -- give users a heads-up before they click on a link.

"We believe consumers want to know, in plain English: 'If I download this program, will it come with adware?' Or, 'if I sign up here, how much and what kind of e-mail will I receive?'" said chief executive Chris Dixon. "SiteAdvisor zeros in on the moment of decision, when users are about to interact with a dangerous site. We can tell them: 'We've been here before, and here's what happened to us.'"

The company's ratings were with the help of automated Web spiders, which crawled the millions of sites that represent more than 95 percent of the Internet's total traffic. Nearly half a million downloads were analyzed for spyware and other malicious code, and 1.3 million registrations were logged using unique e-mail address to track spam from each site source.

Users need a proactive approach to security, said Dixon, because of the shift in attackers' strategies, from technical assaults such as viruses and worms to for-profit attacks such as adware, spyware, spam, and phishing.

Traditional security software "leaves a big hole in consumers' Web safety armor because they don't know what's safe to click in the first place," Dixon added. "We focus on the kinds of attacks that other companies miss, so consumers can browse with confidence and stay safe and in control online."

Although the plug-ins are free, SiteAdvisor plans to release more powerful versions that will carry price tags. "In the future, we will offer paid versions with additional premium features," the company said.

The plug-ins can be downloaded from here. Additional details on the inner workings of SiteAdvisor, check out the recent review on InternetWeek.

Here is the link to download the plugin for firefox, they have one for IE too.
http://www.siteadvisor.com/download/ff.html
 
Before I go on a rant, I'll say this is a decent idea.....However, it still doesn't address the problem of people having no clue what they are using. Now people will think, "Gee, my magic crystal ball program doesn't say it's a bad site, I think I'll let it install stuff on my computer." It's not fixing the problem, it's just putting a big band-aid on it and hoping it goes away. Sure it takes out a bunch of potentials, but I still think that the people who get spyware regularly will still get spyware regularly. There is no absolute fix to spyware/trojans/spamming--the best protection in the end is (and is limited to) the user's awareness of what they are doing, where they are going, who they give their info to, and what they are installing.
 
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I downloaded the plug-in just to see what it was like (and so I could recommend it to a few people who I know need it). It appears to be a very good program for alerting people about the sites they visit. Even the best users can't discern a "good" site from a "bad" site all the time, every time (neither can this program, but it's still got an edge on the user). I see two downsides though. One is that it has to access the main database every time you load a page or do a search--this could mean increased wait time while browsing on dialup (shouldn't be noticeable on anything else). The second downside is much more of a problem (IMHO), the Yellow box. The yellow box is a confusing thing. According to siteadvisor.com the yellow box means, “Caution: Our tests revealed some issues you should know about. (Example: a site tried to change our browser defaults, or sent a lot of "non-spammy" e-mail).” When I hear “change browser defaults” I immediately think spyware/malware, it’s an instant red flag. So this yellow box may seem to be a sign to proceed with caution, but it can still leave you with questionable cookies and possibly other things. I would recommend this to anyone. It is a helpful program (and will save some of us a lot of time fixing other’s PC’s). I still believe that the most effective tool against spyware is a smart/experienced user. However, sometimes smart/experienced users are hard to come by, and in that case I would recommend this plug in.
 
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bucknut11 said:
I spend all my online time on BP. What is spyware? :biggrin:
Click to expand...
Nothing to worry about, then.

just_some_eyes.jpg
 
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