Download.com Bundling Toolbars, Trojans?
Summary: CNET's download.com began bundling browser toolbars such as the Babylon Toolbar and StartNow Toolbar into software installers, including open-source titles like Nmap and Wireshark whose distribution licenses prohibit it. The CNET download installer made by CBS Interactive was detected as malicious by three antivirus products at Virustotal.com, and the unpacked Nmap installer was flagged as a Trojan horse or adware by 10 of 39 antivirus products.
Bottom line: Nmap developer Gordon Lyon noted that users click through installer screens trusting download.com gave them the real installer, and that the worst part is users will think the Nmap Project did this to them - a reputational hit that lands on the software author, not the distributor.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
- Topics
- Endpoint & Network Security
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