Re: The story of the security-plagued cyberisland

From: Ish Sookun <ish_at_hacklog.in>
Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2015 10:36:09 +0400

Hi Logan,

On 06/20/2015 11:53 PM, Loganaden Velvindron wrote:
>
> The average user does not download videos from youtube, they stream
> it. Again, you're looking at "beyond" average skills here. What is
> important, is that there are so many ask toolbar out there in
> Mauritius, that it's generating more traffic than sites like
> orange.mu, xvideos.com :)
>

I've ran a cybercafe for nearly 6 years and I could see how the average
& below average people would use a PC. I tried to pull the discussion
towards why ask.com could be present but I see that whole subject took
off in a completely different direction in your blog comments. So, I
will limit my comment here itself.

Many people in Mauritius would download songs from Youtube to later
listen on their mobile phones, especially while travelling. This is a
common practice.

My mom once asked me if she could download videos from Youtube instead
of watching online. I consider my mom a below average user.

You mentioned about Microsoft in an unclear way. Microsoft has tagged
the previous versions of Ask toolbar for their ability to change search
criteria and keep hold on certain browser settings; like not letting
change the homepage. Microsoft tagged them as unwanted software. The
advisory does not apply to the latest version of the Ask toolbar from
what I read.

You ended your article citing CERT-MU and the National Computer Board. I
do not think they will listen to you if you present them Ask toolbar as
a danger. Ask has cleverly partnered with companies and gets in through
other software.

If we call upon CERT-MU to do something about the Ask toolbar in
Mauritius, I doubt they will take us seriously. Rather it should be
studied through what other means apart from Java, Symantec, etc, does
the Ask toolbar gets installed.

I agree with you that the excessive network usage is a nuisance.

You mentioned the 'compromised island' in your title. Is the 'Ask'
situation unique to Mauritius? Alexa shows the following ranking for
ask.com:


Country Percent of Visitors Rank in Country
United States 11.3% 64
India 6.6% 50
Indonesia 6.5% 10
Iran 4.5% 9
Algeria 3.6% 7

In a country like USA, where a lot of people use Internet via mobile
devices, which would be less likely to have an Ask toolbar in the mobile
browser, ask.com still ranks under top 100. Is it balanced to say the
United States of America is a security plagued developed country?

CERT-MU & the National Computer Board could however do more about
educating people on 'unwanted software' and how to identify them.

>
> Interesting to see that virustotal is flagging the files :)
>

Yes. Some antivirus software will flag it.

Regards,

-- 
​Ish Sookun
- Geek by birth, Linux by choice.
- I blog at HACKLOG.in.
https://twitter.com/IshSookun ^^ Do you tweet?
Received on Sun Jun 21 2015 - 06:36:45 PST

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