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Skriven 2006-06-15 17:54:24 av Jeff Guerdat (1:275/311)
Ärende: Windows Genuine Advantage - spyware?
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 From Brian Livingston's newsletter (posted without permission):

 TOP STORY

Genuine Advantage is Microsoft spyware

By Brian Livingston

Windows Genuine Advantage — the controversial program Microsoft 
auto-installed as a "critical security update" on many PCs starting on 
Apr. 25 — not only causes problems for many users but has now been 
proven to send personally identifiable information back to Redmond every 
24 hours.

This behavior clearly fits any plausible definition of "spyware." Some 
tech writers have said categorizing WGA as spyware is arguable. But I 
have no hesitation in calling the program a security nightmare that 
Microsoft should never have distributed in its present form.

In my May 25 newsletter, I called Microsoft's WGA download a "severe 
blunder." It causes serious problems for some legitimate Windows users 
and was sprung on customers with no notice other than a press release 
the day before.

No PC-using company that values security and reliability can allow a 
program like WGA to send data to a distant server, download additional 
software, morph its behavior, or remotely change the functionality of 
Windows (as I describe below). I don't believe individuals should put up 
with this, either.

Today, I'll explain the problems and let you know what you can do to fix 
them.

If the spyware label fits, wear it

In a statement released on June 8, Microsoft officially denies that WGA 
is spyware. Let's settle this question right off the bat so we can 
quickly move on to more important things.

Microsoft's denial is based on its own definition of spyware:

     * "Broadly speaking, spyware is deceptive software that is 
installed on a user's computer without the user's consent and has some 
malicious purpose. WGA is installed with the consent of the user and 
seeks only to notify the user if a proper license is not in place. WGA 
is not spyware."

This is patently absurd. Many spyware programs, such as peer-to-peer 
file sharing applications, are knowingly installed with the user's 
consent. The user downloads the software to get music, a screen saver, 
or whatever other benefit is promised.

What makes a program spyware, among other things, is that it operates in 
ways that aren't clearly disclosed before installation and it reports 
data back to a central server. Furthermore, this activity needn't be 
malicious. Many spyware programs do nothing more than serving up 
targeted advertising or tracking anonymous marketing behavior. If a user 
wants such tracking functions, they might be fine. But if the user 
wasn't clearly made aware of this, whether or not such software has a 
malicious purpose, it's still spyware.

The majority of published definitions of spyware focus the fact on that 
a program quietly gathers and transmits data. For example, here's an 
excerpt from the first definition returned by Google when define spyware 
is entered:

     * "Any software that covertly gathers user information through the 
user's Internet connection without his or her knowledge, usually for 
advertising purposes."

To help you understand the latest revelations about Windows Genuine 
Advantage's behaviors, let's walk through the latest facts that have 
been discovered about WGA.

What Genuine Advantage actually does

What we've found about WGA fits neatly into four behaviors that are 
typical of all spyware:

1. Lack of disclosure before installation. Windows users in the affected 
countries (U.S., U.K., Australia, etc.) who had Automatic Updates set to 
"auto-install" received WGA without user action, as though it was a 
critical security update — which it clearly was not. Even those users 
who ran Windows Update or Microsoft Update manually, however, were 
misinformed about what WGA would do. In 17 pages of screen shots, ZDNet 
blogger David Berlind demonstrates this, concluding:

     * "I was not asked for consent when the WGA Validation Tool — the 
one that, like spyware, phones home — installed itself. In fact, as can 
be seen from this screenshot which immediately preceded the automatic 
download and installation of the WGA Validation Tool, I could easily 
argue that I was misled into thinking I was going to download and 
install something else when in fact, I was downloading and installing, 
without my consent, software that apparently phones home."

A separate WGA Notification Tool is also downloaded. This program does 
not contact Microsoft's server, but merely displays warnings on a user's 
PC if a Genuine Advantage test is failed for whatever reason. After 
clicking several links in the manual download process, Berlind found 
only a vague explanation of WGA through what he calls a "circuitous route."

2. Transmits data to a central computer. The WGA Validation Tool 
contacts a Microsoft server every time a PC is booted up and every 24 
hours after that. (Some of the earliest alarms about this were sounded 
by Lauren Weinstein, a co-founder of People for Internet Responsibility, 
in postings June 5 through 13.) WGA's "phone home" events, like all 
Internet packets, contain the IP address of the affected PC and the date 
and time, indicating when it booted up or had run for 24 hours. In 
addition, Microsoft's WGA director, David Lazar, told the Associated 
Press in a June 7 interview that the program also:

     * "...gathers information such as the computer's manufacturer and 
the language and locale it is set for."

This is enough data to easily identify individual PCs. And, of course, 
WGA can be modified remotely to collect additional information (as 
explained in point 3).

3. Downloads other software and morphs itself. WGA's daily contact with 
Microsoft's servers is specifically designed to allow the company to 
download new instructions. According to Microsoft's June 8 statement and 
Lazar's interview, this includes:

• Changing how often WGA contacts Microsoft's servers;
• Disabling features of WGA or disabling the WGA software entirely;
• Adding to the license keys that WGA treats as invalid; etc.

4. Cannot easily be uninstalled. No entry appears in the Add/Remove 
Software control panel for patches 892130 or 905474 — the Validation 
Tool and the Notification Tool. If you manually delete WGA's executable 
file, Windows regenerates it. (I'll discuss remedies for this below.)

Perhaps most shocking is a trait of WGA that most other spyware doesn't 
suffer from. WGA is beta software that even Microsoft doesn't consider 
ready for release.

Section 4 of the WGA Validation Tool EULA (End User License Agreement) 
states:

     * "4. PRE-RELEASE SOFTWARE. This software is a pre-release version. 
It may not work the way a final version of the software will. We may 
change it for the final, commercial version. We also may not release a 
commercial version."

Microsoft's June 8 statement confirms this by repeatedly calling the WGA 
rollout a "pilot program" or a "pilot version." Of course, "pre-release 
software" and "pilot version" mean exactly the same thing — beta.

At least that explains some of the many problems that Windows users are 
having with WGA.

Problems with WGA — and some solutions

It's important to remember that Windows Genuine Advantage is not an 
omnipotent, do-everything program. Its stated goals are simple. If an 
instance of Windows doesn't seem to have a valid license, (1) display 
notices to the user and (2) prevent any updates being downloaded from 
Microsoft.com except security upgrades that are rated "Critical."

Despite these limited tasks, WGA seems to cause a wide variety of 
headaches. Since my May 25 article appeared, I've collected reports from 
the field and from readers describing the following categories of issues:

1. False positives of legitimate copies of Windows. Numerous users 
report that WGA refuses to validate licensed copies of Windows that are 
unquestionably genuine. At Microsoft's official online forum called WGA 
Validation Problems, many people report problems even with packaged 
copies of Windows that were purchased directly from Microsoft.

2. No updates at all unless WGA is accepted. Although a WGA failure is 
supposed to only prevent affected users from downloading nonsecurity 
updates, many Windows Secrets readers report that legitimate copies of 
Windows refuse to display any updates except the WGA download — until 
the Validation and Notification Tools are installed. Phillip "Skip" 
Lehrfeld writes:

     * "I chose to download the Windows Genuine Advantage Validation 
Tool (KB 892130) on March 6, 2006. I followed this with Windows Genuine 
Advantage Notification (KB 905474) on May 4, 2006.

       "On June 2, 2006, I was checking the Update site as I was 
informed that there was a new Critical update to be downloaded. I 
checked the site and it told me I could not get my update as I was 
missing a critical tool. I checked it out and it told me I was missing 
the Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool. I checked my history and 
sure enough I had installed it on March 6.

       "OK, I will bite, and I downloaded it again. Yes, the number was 
KB 892130, the same as before. Then it wanted me to install the second 
one again. I installed Windows Genuine Advantage Notification, KB 
905474, for the second time. Having installed the two for the second 
time, there were no new updates to install. Those were the updates to be 
installed. ...

       "After the reinstallation, I checked the history section of the 
site and now I have the two updates installed twice successfully.

       "I have an authorized copy of Windows XP and had no problems with 
the above events; but it leaves me to wonder what is going on and are 
they now doing something else to my system without revealing what is 
going on."

The redundant WGA install messages are probably caused by changed code 
that Microsoft wished to download to defeat some workarounds that 
disabled WGA.

Numerous other readers say that Microsoft's update site also reported to 
them that there were no patches except WGA, although important updates 
were, in fact, available.

3. "Notify only" options disabled. We have some reports that the "notify 
only" options in Automatic Updates are greyed out and can't be selected. 
G. Allen Taylor, M.D., writes:

     * "With regard to the OS updates, which I have so faithfully and 
obediently installed, I now suspect that one of them has 'grayed out' 
the Options menu in Windows Update on both my computers. "While formerly 
I could choose to automatically or manually download and/or install the 
periodic updates, I now have no choice on either of my computers. 
Whether I want them or not, all updates are downloaded when I'm online 
and installed then or the next time I reboot."

Dr. Taylor offers a fix, which involves the fact that a Group Policy was 
somehow enabled that prevents any option other than auto-updates.

The solution requires a change to Group Policy or the Registry. The 
procedures are described at the Windows XP MVPs site.

4. Reinstalls from valid CDs fail the Genuine Advantage test. By far the 
most serious side-effect of WGA is that it doesn't validate instances of 
Windows that are reinstalled, even when a genuine CD-ROM from a major 
computer maker is used. Lauren Weinstein writes:

     * "It appears that it is exceedingly common for repair operations 
to reinstall based on "cloned" or otherwise duplicated copies of the 
Microsoft OS, rather than try to restore or reauthenticate based on the 
original users' OS serial numbers or authentication codes. Original 
restore disks and key information cards/labels are frequently missing, 
making it difficult to duplicate the original authentication environment."

I've seen reports of this on Microsoft's own forum involving such cases 
as Best Buy's Geek Squad reinstalling Windows with the user's original, 
licensed Dell CD-ROM.

Despite all of the reported problems, Microsoft officials aren't very 
forthcoming on the subject of WGA. On June 9, I asked to interview David 
Lazar in Redmond and submitted a few questions in writing. Five days 
later, a spokesman replied, "Unfortunately, we will not be able to 
participate in this opportunity."

Many Windows users seem to be in denial that WGA could be spyware, 
because Microsoft is such a big, well-known company. Unfortunately, that 
was what people thought of the Sony BMG recording label before it 
started distributing music CDs last year with rootkit software that 
infected PCs.

I don't feel that Microsoft or Sony BMG are evil incarnate. But we must 
recognize that Microsoft is now just one more spyware distributor among 
the many we have to watch out for.

How to make sure WGA doesn't bite you

It's important not to panic about Windows Genuine Advantage. At this 
point, its worst side-effect is interfering with the normal patch 
process — but far more common is that it merely displays annoying 
warning messages for no apparent reason.

If you've already allowed WGA to install, I can't recommend that you try 
to uninstall it. That's because Microsoft has made a passing grade on 
Genuine Advantage a requirement for almost every kind of download you 
might want from Redmond. Without passing a Genuine Advantage checkup, 
most Windows users now can't get Internet Explorer beta 7, for example, 
although you might not care. But you just might have a good reason to 
install a newer, more secure version of Windows Media Player or any of 
dozens of other official updates.

If you insist on trying to uninstall WGA, the My Digital Life site has 
posted no fewer than 15 proposed hacks that attempt to circumvent 
Microsoft's anti-uninstall measures. Most of these methods no longer 
work, due to recent Microsoft code changes. Even if you did disable the 
app, it's pointless to have done so if you ever need to download any 
Microsoft widget some day that requires WGA. Again, I don't recommend 
that you bother trying to remove WGA if it's installed.

Instead, I strongly advise that you simply suppress WGA's negative 
side-effects:

Step 1. Stop the misleading installation of possibly unwanted programs. 
If you really don't need to download anything from Microsoft for a 
while, set the Automatic Updates control panel to Notify but don't 
download or install. When you're notified of new security updates, first 
read the free and paid versions of the Windows Secrets Newsletter for 
our reviews. Then manually run Microsoft Update and select only the 
patches that have no reported conflicts.

If Microsoft Update subsequently refuses to download patches you need, 
go ahead and accept the WGA installs, then take steps 2 and 3. Be aware 
that some programs, such as Microsoft's Windows Defender (formerly MS 
Antispyware Beta), won't update themselves unless Windows' auto-update 
is on. (Thanks to reader Raymond Combs for his research into this.)

Step 2. Disable WGA's incessant notifications. If WGA guesses, correctly 
or incorrectly, that your copy of Windows is unlicensed, it displays a 
warning at least once a day for 14 days, then once an hour after that. 
Fortunately, Microsoft has made it easy to disable all such warnings. 
Right-click the WGA logo in the system tray, then select Change 
notification settings. Turn off the display of notifications, click Save 
Settings, select I understand, and finally click Yes I'm Sure. Reboot 
the PC. The WGA logo will remain in the tray but notifications will no 
longer appear. The notices will come back, however, if you happen to 
install a future version of WGA from Microsoft.

Step 3. Prevent WGA from phoning home to Microsoft servers. The WGA 
process that calls out to its remote masters can be blocked by 2-way 
software firewalls such as ZoneAlarm and McAfee. To do so, simply deny 
the connection when your firewall pops up an alert about Windows Genuine 
Advantage trying to use the Internet. Alternately, hard-code a denial 
via the firewall's user interface. No ill effects of preventing WGA from 
establishing a connection have been reported.

This story has legs

I'm afraid I'll have more tales to tell in future weeks as the fallout 
expands. Microsoft executives seem totally oblivious to how much public 
trust they've squandered by installing WGA in a sneaky way. Microsoft 
has repeatedly assured users that Automatic Updates would only be used 
to download critical security fixes. "Delivering security updates right 
to your computer automatically," they said.

Abusing PC users' need for security patches is a betrayal that Microsoft 
can ill afford. Whoever the marketing geniuses are who've seized 
Microsoft's security infrastructure to push out spyware, they need to be 
fired.

I'm not holding my breath waiting for that. Instead, I'm researching a 
totally independent way for Windows users to keep their PCs tuned 
without depending on Microsoft Update at all. Stay tuned.

To send us more information about WGA, or to send us a tip on any other 
subject, visit WindowsSecrets.com/contact. You'll receive a gift 
certificate for a book, CD, or DVD of your choice if you send us a 
comment that we print.
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