Google Chrome Spyware ?

Discussion in 'Computer Science & Culture' started by dumbest man on earth, Apr 9, 2015.

  1. dumbest man on earth Real Eyes Realize Real Lies Valued Senior Member

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    Caught this at : http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150407/1020571709.html

    ...above quoted from, and more at : http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150407/1020571709.html

    ...or, maybe just "google it"!
     
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  3. Kittamaru Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums. Valued Senior Member

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    Uhm...

    Not really sure how that has anything to do with Chrome's "incognito mode"... if there is additional malware/spyware on the computer, it doesn't matter what the browser itself does to be honest...
     
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  5. dumbest man on earth Real Eyes Realize Real Lies Valued Senior Member

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    "Uhm..."

    Probably the reason that the Article : http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150407/1020571709.html, and myself, mentioned it in relation to "Chrome's "incognito mode"..." so often.
     
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  7. Kittamaru Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums. Valued Senior Member

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    Reading the article, the only place I see "incognito" mentioned was the title...

    then there's this:
    If you look it up - Webpage Screenshot is a third party application for Chrome (which, for the record, has already been taken off the Chrome store by Google) and not an inherent part of Chrome... nor the Incognito mode.

    Thus, again... this is a case of a user installing something malicious, not a fault of Chrome itself.
     
  8. danshawen Valued Senior Member

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    Been there. Done that.

    In advance of the rollout of the new Microsoft browser based largely on the techniques used by Google Chrome, Microsoft is pulling out all the stops in terms of BANKROLLING malware hackers to exploit weaknesses they have found in Chrome.

    One such weakness allows the malware hackers to use Chrome to effectively mimic a Micrsoft Update screen to install malware like Tivoli and Tapika. After the attack, most browsers will be left with search engines that redirect to places to get more malware.

    Effective countermeasures would include the free version of MalwareBytes, but the root of the problem seems to be the configuration error of making Google Chrome your default browser. Switch it back to explorer now if you wish to slow down the attacks.

    This attack is a more or less direct assault on Chrome's success as the most secure browser for windows computers by Microsoft, most recently beleaguered by their utter failure to garner market share with Windows 8.

    Don't fall for it. Switch your Windows computer to Linux Ubuntu or buy a Mac. Stop supporting a software vendor who has done nothing to innovate since terminating all support to Windows XP, and acts to sabotage anything resembling security for anything other than their own market share. Show them what 0% market share for Windows and their replacement for Explorer looks like.

    Ballmer was probably responsible for this too. Or someone just like him.

    To the hackers and promoters of Malware: That was some clever work. You should write your own malware- only operating systems. Let us know how that works out. I suggest you learn a trade other than hacking windows, because thanks to your efforts, it's finally going away.
     
    Last edited: Apr 12, 2015
  9. dumbest man on earth Real Eyes Realize Real Lies Valued Senior Member

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    Kittamaru, could you possibly say that it may just be an example of...Google Chrome Spyware ?
     
  10. Kittamaru Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums. Valued Senior Member

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    Again - why are you trying to blame Chrome for this? It's like trying to blame your Internet Service Provider / Email provider for spyware you get from opening an infected email...
     
  11. dumbest man on earth Real Eyes Realize Real Lies Valued Senior Member

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    Kittamaru, neither sputniknews.com, nor myself are "...trying to blame Chrome". The article clearly states that the Spyware is installed "through an add-on specifically targeting Google's Chrome browser."

    ...above quoted from, and more at : http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150407/1020571709.html

    The article seems to me at least, and possibly also danshawen, to be pointing out that the "Spyware" is expressly targeting/exploiting the "Google Chrome browser".

    I am not sure why you want to argue with yourself, or anyone else, about "...trying to blame Chrome".
     
    Last edited: Apr 12, 2015
  12. Kittamaru Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums. Valued Senior Member

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    Then why are you calling it "Google Chrome Spyware"? It isn't spying on Chrome, it's spying on the OS.
     
  13. dumbest man on earth Real Eyes Realize Real Lies Valued Senior Member

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    To repeat : The article seems to me at least, and possibly also danshawen, to be pointing out that the "Spyware" is expressly targeting/exploiting the "Google Chrome browser".

    Kittamaru, it may just be in relation to the above, that the Authors of the linked article : http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150407/1020571709.html , chose to Title it "Not So Incognito: One Million Swedish PCs Hit by Google Chrome Spyware"

    BTW, I only Posted the article, Kittamaru, so you should probably get in contact with sputniknews.com if you have to argue about anything that you read in the article.
     
  14. C C Consular Corps - "the backbone of diplomacy" Valued Senior Member

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    [EDIT: Never mind this extension for FF users; doesn't seem to work for the latest version of Firefox, and there may be other shortcomings even if it did. Chrome folk could still check to if see any equivalent they might have would be worth a bother, though, if trustworthy.]

    Chrome users can check to see if the Google Webstore has an equivalent of Firefox's "extension-defender" as an available addon. To help avoid such happening again. It supposedly scans other browser extensions to see if they contain malware.

    Of course, if the Chrome webstore does sport such, there's a minor possibility that even that addon could be yet another trojan gimmick loaded with bad. Mozilla at least claims that it has preliminarily reviewed the Firefox "extension-defender" on its addon site: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/extension-defender/
     
    Last edited: Apr 12, 2015
  15. Kittamaru Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums. Valued Senior Member

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    C C - They do have one, titled "Extension Defender"

    It is also worth noting that Google makes the attempt to check extensions/applications listed both on the Chrome market and the Android market - of course, it is impossible to catch everything, despite what some of our neighbors seem to think
     
  16. C C Consular Corps - "the backbone of diplomacy" Valued Senior Member

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    Got the Firefox version to install second time around. Scan indicated no malicious extensions. The signature database for FF was pretty low in August 2014 when this article was last updated:

    "[...] It uses signatures to determine whether an extension is malicious or not. According to the description [...] it detects over 80 adware, spyware and malicious extensions currently, with new extensions being added regularly. [...] the developer website [...] only lists eight add-ons for Firefox currently, while 78 are listed for Google Chrome. While it is likely that the signature count will increase over time, the low count of signatures for Firefox makes it rather needless right now. While some users may want to install it for the future protection that it will offer, most users may just want to browse the eight entries of the Firefox signature database instead to check extensions that the add-on detects manually instead."
     
  17. Sylvester Registered Senior Member

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    467
    Chrome has a bad memory leak.

    IDK, it's hard to separate the search technology. It does have the best search technology. It does seem to rely on your history items. But idk, google doesn't bother me...and, I know it runs tabs in serperate threads so dont even try it. There is a memory leak.
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2015
  18. Kittamaru Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums. Valued Senior Member

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    I had swapped away from Chrome for a while because of that memory leak - went back... oh, about three months ago? Haven't had any issues - I have noticed that if I have multiple windows with Flash or Shockwave objects, that those two systems can start to consume vast amounts of memory, but that seems to happen in Chrome, FireFox, and even WaterFox
     
  19. C C Consular Corps - "the backbone of diplomacy" Valued Senior Member

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    Have a seldom employed netbook with Win7 and only 1GB memory that I occasionally take on hospital visits, etc. Chrome or other chromium-based browsers became unusable on it after visiting only a few websites (the software gobbles so many resources). Firefox gets along fine, though. Not sure Chrome could avoid bringing everything to a dragging halt even if the netbook had 2GB.
     
  20. Intersect Registered Member

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    Bill Gates has a fear of humanoid androids and robots I've heard, perhaps is the thing of his nightmares and Google has bought allot of robotics companies

    look at the bigger picture eight of the 12 companies the search giant has acquired have "robotics" in their name or descriptions $100 million was spent to buy these companies.


    Maybe Bill feels he's entitled to attack Google and believes he is superman for all I know.Btw I'm only joking I don't really know if that is bills delusions ,plans or dreams but he does say it's he fears robots, so attacking them in anyway if driven by fear could be possible to me, however it seems less of a joke to me when I think about it..
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2015
  21. danshawen Valued Senior Member

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    3,951
    No issue with Bill Gates. It is his hand picked minion Steve who drove the company Bill helped start into ruin. If they can't make a secure browser of their own that stands on its own merits without attacking the best and most secure browser that has been available to windows users for decades, it's time for them to fold their software operations and use the rest of their fortune to go do something they're better at than sabotage.

    Use some of the money to return support for windows XP, or else license it to someone who will. Forget upgrades to Explorer and win10. It ain't happening, or at least, not with the same crew who crafted win8.

    Robotics is a better choice, actually. Apple or Linux has no power to counter them there. Rodney Brooks & co could use some support. I have a vision of spam wielding door to door robotic salespeople invading the countryside selling stuff from Amazon or online casino gambling to folks without computers or smartphones. Can't wait to dismantle one. Easy to do. All you need is a pool, an ice bucket or a garden hose. How much you want to bet, they'd all be running windows XP if Microsoft had anything to do with it?
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2015
  22. Intersect Registered Member

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    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    Sounds good to me, I have no problems with androids , I see it as a money making opportunity.

    As far as androids taking over the world, I think there would be to much competition to just allow one type of android hardware to dominate the whole world, world govts wouldn't have it that way due to security reasons fear of hardware backdoors in secure places and the like.
     
  23. danshawen Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,951
    If you use windows and have not seen this:

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...-windows/3a8fd35b-b54e-4cb8-8a38-439f6db3b1f7

    Go there right away. Use MalwareBytes first. Then add SuperAntivirus. Nothing else will protect your Windows computer from such malware attacks unless it is something you actually pay for.

    You will notice, neither of these products come from microsoft, but are "officially recommended." Any decent OS company would SHIP security essentials as vital as these along with their OS software, or upload it along with their other patches, instead of burying such recommendations in pile of soft peat in a disused basement lavatory marked with a sign "Beware of Tiger".
     
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