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From: DStark at forseon.com (DStark@...seon.com) Subject: AV "feature" does more DDoS than Sobig > Anti-virus companies seem to spend more money on marketing/visibility > than on actually protecting their customers. This marketing stupidity is > done by adding USELESS features, which spreads false information and > delivers false sense of security: > - "You're infected" reply (false positive) > - "This message is 100% virus-free certified" signature line (false sense of security) > - Anti-virus buttons on Internet Explorer toolbar (just to launch the AV) > - Splash screens every time you: > - boot your computer > - send e-mail > - check pop3 e-mail > - turn your computer off > - System tray useless icons (in some AVs, the system tray icon does nothing except for launching the AV program) > - Redundant shortcut icons in Desktop, Start Menu root, Quick Launch and Start Menu program folder The only annoyance that comes of these "Features" is from when the user is too lazy to find out how to turn them off. The majority of av products that offer such also have the options of disabling them (Such as the splash screens and the email alerts). And as for what you view as "Marketing", I see more along the lines of a visual for consumers. For instance, how many people do you know that are Computer-Challenged? And how many times have you asked those people 'When was the last time you ran a virus scan?' only to hear 'Oh, gosh, you know, I don't remember.' And to find out def's and sig's are about as old as dirt. Most "End-Users"/"Customers" need to be reminded a lot imho, especially when it comes to protection products like AV on over to things like Defragment and Scan Disk. Without these visuals to remind them, they are more than likely to just continue working away and never ponder about making sure their computer is up to date and virus free. > This kind of stupidity from AV companies makes me hate them more every day. That's like getting pissed off at Ford because they put their name on the sides, front and back of your car. - d Fabio Gomes de Souza <bugtraq@....com.br> To: bugtraq@...urityfocus.com, full-disclosure@...ts.netsys.com Sent by: cc: full-disclosure-admin@...ts Subject: [Full-Disclosure] AV "feature" does more DDoS than Sobig .netsys.com 08/28/2003 10:05 AM Hello, Anti-virus products are causing more harm than the Sobig Worm. Some of my customers are having the following problem: B = Customer of my customer (infected) C,D,E = Some random company (victims of Sobig) A = My customer (victim of AV marketing) The Sobig worm infected B. In its propagation loop, the worm composes a message, chooses two random items in the Address Book, and puts the first in the "From:" and the second in the "To:" header. Then all virus messages are spoofed. The problem is that many e-mail virus scanners send a "You are infected" reply to the address contained in the "From" header. Since the messages are spoofed, the inoccent, uninfected user "A" is flooded by automatic complaints from "C","D","E" regarding the virus that "B" sends. Anti-virus companies seem to spend more money on marketing/visibility than on actually protecting their customers. This marketing stupidity is done by adding USELESS features, which spreads false information and delivers false sense of security: - "You're infected" reply (false positive) - "This message is 100% virus-free certified" signature line (false sense of security) - Anti-virus buttons on Internet Explorer toolbar (just to launch the AV) - Splash screens every time you: - boot your computer - send e-mail - check pop3 e-mail - turn your computer off - System tray useless icons (in some AVs, the system tray icon does nothing except for launching the AV program) - Redundant shortcut icons in Desktop, Start Menu root, Quick Launch and Start Menu program folder This kind of stupidity from AV companies makes me hate them more every day. -- Fabio Gomes de Souza <fabio@....com.br> Fone: (81) 9127-0597 GS2 TECNOLOGIA DA INFORMA??O LTDA - Infra-estrutura de TI, seguran?a, sistemas embutidos e Linux - Consultoria, planejamento, implementa??o e gerenciamento http://www.gs2.com.br negocios@....com.br (81) 3492-7777 _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html
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