Text 16406, 63 rader
Skriven 2007-02-22 17:59:02 av mike (1:379/45)
Ärende: MSN punts 'scareware'
=============================
From: mike <mike@barkto.com>


http://www.theregister.com/2007/02/21/msn_messenger_scareware/

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Microsoft has admitted its Windows Live Messenger client displayed banner ads
for several days punting an application blacklisted as a security risk. Shortly
after Microsoft made the admission, other outlets reported that MSN Groups
displayed ads for a separate piece of software widely regarded as rogue.

Redmond has pulled the ads for Errorsafe, a purported security product labeled
by legitimate firms as "scareware" designed to frighten users into buying a
product that actually impairs internet safety. Redmond has promised to review
its advertisement approval process in order to prevent the problem cropping up
again.

For a period earlier this week, Errorsafe, which is listed as a security risk
alongside related packages such as Winfixer, appeared as a banner ad inside
Windows Live Messenger.

Worse still, pop-up ads punting the product were served to users running
Windows Live Messenger. These pop-up ads appeared without user interaction.
Clicking on the OK or Cancel buttons in this pop-up window would have resulted
in an attempt to download a malicious ActiveX control without a user's
permission.

In another incident involving rogue software, Microsoft has also apologized
after its MSN Groups was caught serving ads hawking SystemDoctor2006, according
to APC Mag.

The Microsoft-distributed ads give a veneer of legitimacy to packages that
advise surfers they are infected with spyware, whether they are or not, in an
attempt to hoodwink users into buying ineffective software.

"We immediately investigated the reports and removed the offending ads, as this
is a violation of our ad-serving policy," Microsoft spokeswoman Whitney Burk
told IDG.

The incident is the second time adverts for potentially unwanted programs have
made their way onto the ad serving networks servicing well-known internet
brands over recent weeks. MySpace served up banner ads for AntiVirus Pro and
DriveCleaner, other so-called security packages that offer nothing but misery
for users, in January.

Sandi Hardmeier, a Microsoft Most Valued Professional who was the first to
document the Errorsafe on Messenger threat, said Microsoft has let itself and
its users badly down over failing to block the offending ads.

"For years I have been holding up MSN Messenger banner advertisements as an
example of how advertisements can be safely served up to end users without
putting them at risk of malware," she writes on her Spyware Sucks blog.

"Now, everything has changed. Users have been put at direct risk through no
fault of their own and they can't avoid the MSN banner advertisements when the
contact pane is open without using a third party hack that is ethically wrong
to use." R
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  /m

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