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Teenagers used to push Zango on Myspace?

vitalsecurity.org — A ring of "Myspace profile edit" sites encourage Myspace users to add their "free videos" to their profiles. What they *don't* mention, is that these videos pop open a box that tries to install Zango Adware when someone visits a profile running these movies. Getting what is likely teenagers to unknowingly distribute this stuff is a new low.

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  • asurroca, on 10/12/2007, -0/+31Ugh. This is going to bring a new wave of adware annoyances. I mean, how many of the teenagers on Myspace are going to think about things like preventing adware/spyware on their computers when they log on to Myspace?
    • Submerge, on 10/12/2007, -1/+32MySpace should restrict what a person can put on their profile. Half the time so much crap is on a profile the computer starts lagging.. By the way, MySpace is crap 2.0
    • wirah, on 10/12/2007, -14/+24It's barely web 2.0. I think the only 2.0 trend it has is the 'Edit your top friends' nonsense.. and that's not even Ajax.

      MySpace and Internet Explorer should have a baby. That kid would get so bullied.
  • xswag, on 10/12/2007, -4/+49Myspace is just a pit of bad code.
    • XorSystem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+35I can't even recall the number of times that someone's wacked out profile made my browser crash....

      they definitely need a rehash of that damn place
    • ejdmoo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13This is true.

      The problem here is actually myspace, which lets very inexperienced users code pages.

      The pop-up is very slick, actually. It's popped up by the Windows Media Licensing stuff...
    • evilgod69, on 10/12/2007, -32/+3if a myspace profile makes your browser crash, then u need to fix it. (presuming it's opensource). if you can't fix it, then u need to file a bug against the browser (presuming there is a bug tracking system). if you can't file a bug against it, then you need to go get a real browser! please, by all means, link me to a myspace page that will crash my browser ^-^ (hint, i use firefox, and that is a real challenge)
    • skirkybaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13@evilgod69

      Ive come across countless myspace pages that have crashed out a whole plethora of different versions of firefox. While I agree it is definitely one of the better browsers, and I do indeed use it all the time. It still has its issues, and some of these are with myspace apparently.
    • noGoodNamesLeft, on 10/12/2007, -13/+5@evilgod69; You may have been modded down for your reply, but it's what I thought as well. I didn't know what browser the person was using, but the fact that a badly-written non-malevolant page made it crash suggested the same thing to me.

      Of course, it's unreasonable to expect a browser to render *every* piece of malformed, screwed-up, incorrectly-written code, let alone render it "correcly" (meaningless if the code itself isn't correct anyway). However, for the browser to get off scot free, it should be able to deal with the problem without actually crashing.

      A popup message saying "I am *not* rendering this mangled POS HTML" would be acceptable :)
    • velocipenguin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Trying to play 7 embedded music videos at one time will bring any computer to a halt.
  • smartssa, on 10/12/2007, -1/+38Another reason to avoid myspace.

    The sad thing is most of the myspace sheep won't care or even know what the hell is going on.
    • PunkRampant, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17As much as I dislike your generalization that all myspacers are sheep, you're right that most of them don't care, and that's assuming they even notice. These are teenagers, and it is "their space". It doesn't occur to them that anything malicious can invade "their space". After all, their space is packed with falling hearts - how could anything bad happen to them?
    • Mambo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I believe the correct term is lemmings, not sheep.
  • Paktu, on 10/12/2007, -5/+45Myspace is like the internet equivalent of Detroit:
    Ugly, mismanaged, and overrun with people sporting IQs in the high 60s.
    • PunkRampant, on 10/12/2007, -6/+20Then you don't have to use myspace if you don't like it.

      I understand myspace is a crapload of *****, but everytime it's mentioned on Digg it seems to inspire so much hatred in everyone. What has myspace ever done to hurt you?

      Oh, right - the adware thing. Whatever.
    • Murdats, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11unfortuntly myspace has the effect of both introducing idiots to the rest of the internet, and we have to put up with myspace crap in real life either through media or people we know "so whats you myspace?" *throw up* "gah myspace, wouldnt touch that with a 10 foot pole" " :O you dont have myspace? omgz its tha greytest thang eva, u soo hav 2 get myspace"
  • wirah, on 10/12/2007, -3/+22Ew Myspace. I hate that awfully coded and designed site.

    But then.. 99% of the users will be idiots with no idea about the internet. Mainly crappy emo bands or dumbass wigger sluts.
    • CamoChris, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15"Mainly crappy emo bands", I second that.
    • shaolinpunks, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12dumbass wigger sluts are hot!
    • halleyscomet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Myspace is to 2006 as AOL is to 1999.

      It's where all the Newbies at.
  • BenBenMan, on 10/12/2007, -12/+6Oh my. Looks like highschool geeks around the nation are going to have even more work to do fixing the spyware-infested PCs of their pathetic emo myspace classmates.
  • Fayettemat, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5I use myspace but only to keep in touch but I never use it on a WINDOWS computer, btw if my friends didnt use it I wouldnt either- it causes my bro and sis the blue screen of death and "I" have to fix it :(
  • lobbster, on 10/12/2007, -13/+4i think that you should have to take a test before useing the internet if your not geeky enough then you cant surf
    • Novagenesis, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Like...a spelling test?
      Say, if the person types "useing" instead of "using" they fail?
      Or perhaps you require a grammar test?
      Something like failing anyone who types "your" instead of "you're"?

      Seriously folks, we all hate myspace for one big reason.
      We didn't think of it first, and we're not getting rich from it.

      Technology that is still restricted to the technologically elite decades after its completion is a problem.
      You gotta reduce to the common level, and expect the ugliness that will commence.

      I look in my car, and you know what? They have labels on everything!
      It's a good thing. I don't know ***** about cars, but in the modern world I can't get by without one.
      The internet's the same.
      Myspace is a good introduction.
      Besides, half the teenage MySpacers I know are computer geeks, too.
      The issue is that they seem to lose all sense of intelligence on MySpace, too.
    • OperatorNo9, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12NovaGenesis,

      Put simply, you're wrong. There is not one reason all of us hate it. To illustrate this point, here are the top ten reasons to hate MySpace.

      10. Every page has an embedded music player where members force you to listen to whoever they're banging this week.
      9. Teenagers have the most intensely inane conversations with each other about nothing.
      8. On MySpace, even bald, middle-aged CPAs from Newark appear to be hot.
      7. Emo is like so yesterday.
      6. No one cares how much you threw up last night.
      5. No one cares what you drank in order to throw up that much.
      4. MySpace is like a bizarro real world where bad pictures + lame music - personality = cool.
      3. End User License Agreement actually grants MySpace the right to name your first born child.
      2. Employers now know how lame you are *before* they hire you.
      1. Visiting MySpace is like rewinding the Web by a decade.

      BTW, I am also not getting rich by selling crack to kindergartners. And strangely, I don't think that is the reason I hate people who are.
  • getrealnow, on 10/12/2007, -11/+4myspace is ogl
  • mvent2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10The offending page: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=81426024
    Ouch. I even get the dialog in Firefox.
    • codeman38, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The spyware seems to based around Windows Media's DRM system (confirmed by the error message Flip4Mac gives me before not playing the video), so apparently it will affect any Windows browser that can embed the Windows Media plugin, or even the standalone media player if you try to download and open the file there. Ouch. More reason to avoid Windows Media DRM like the plague...
  • nox327, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5maybe myspace doesn't know about this, people should report it, oh maybe not let 14 year olds learn a lesson.
    • PunkRampant, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Let the 14-year-olds learn a lesson? They did nothing wrong. They are the victims and myspace is letting their computers be attacked.

      And myspace knows about it, trust me.
  • getrealnow, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2fine myspace is cal i
  • PunkRampant, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I encounter this kind of stuff all the time when I go to my friends' profiles, and sometimes it's a straight-up virus instead of just adware. Luckily Norton Internet Security blocks me from this stuff, but SO many people are unprotected and their computers are eaten up by myspace everyday. "Tom" and his crew need to get off their asses and stop these things from happening.
    • zybch, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Wow! NIS actually worked for you. Thats astounding.
  • getrealnow, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Norton Internet Security works for Tom
  • chuckfoo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3damn what about the xangas people
    • PunkRampant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6The Zango adware code probably doesn't support Xanga - they designed it for Myspace, where all the cool kids are nowadays.
    • jeshjohn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have used xanga for years and never had a spyware or adware problem. The more intelligent people are on xanga.
  • william, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8http://www.vitalsecurity.org/uploaded_images/zngomspace2-721631.gif

    If you read the License Acquisition It says By Downloading the Zango Search Assistant, you get free access to all Zango-supported content across the Internet. Zango SA will show you LIMITED NUMBER OF ADS THAT POP UP ON YOUR SCREEN SEPARATE BROWSER. so on....... To me that screams spyware.
  • grayman222, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I could never stand the bombardment of videos and music from opening a myspace profile. I'm glad all Canadian's seem to be on nexopia instead where you can only be assaulted by text and images.
  • Jay730, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Shouldn't be surprised, not the last time you're gonna see something like this "pop up"....

    or the first and last time you hear a bunch of people talk ***** about myspace.com and have a my space profile...
  • brandizzle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Er...Myspace is a sketchy website. You should use the same precautions as you would being on any sketchy website. There's millions of websites that try to install adware when you go to them, I don't see what the big deal is.
    • SP33DFR34K, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7But lets be honest here, majority of MySpace users are not the most tech savy people. Even people with some computer knowledge might get infected. This thing is really clever and sneaky (yes, they are getting smarter). So I can really see many of these people falling for something like this easily.
  • gazoot, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6I've never seen myspace until a couple of weeks ago, and I was quite shocked by the ugly design, bad navigation and terrible guestbook posts... And of course the bad reputation. How come that it's so popular?
    • shaolinpunks, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2how could you have not heard about myspace?
    • foobar5892, on 10/12/2007, -7/+4So how's living under a rock feel like? Warm and musty like an old sock?
    • saftaplan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Welcome to the wonderful continent that's called Europe. None of my friends have yet heard about MySpace, let's hope it stays that way. I once heard it on the radio, being called a 'music site' :-/
      But I still don't get how it's more popular than Google in the U.S.A.. Teenagers keep checking and checking profile pages... or what? What an exciting life must they lead.
  • foobar5892, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2MySpace who?
  • nooreazy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1299% of my space users deserve a "Zango" adware
  • FuzzyLumpkins76, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Another reason why MySpace should die a slow, horrible death. Well... maybe not that slow.
  • wired4u, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6there is an easy fix for this, just dont use myspace
  • gazoot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2It's easy not to hear about myspace, just don't live in US and avoid sites that seems like junk.
  • wvdavis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5F'n Mal-ware writers. They all need to be sent to a county where there is an entertainment value on lobbing their heads. Oh, for these guys that would be any county not just the middle east.
  • dasunst3r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I wonder why people would want to put videos and all that junk on their MySpace. Of course, it's to attract hits; but nobody's gonna give a d*** about the guy anyway because they're too busy watching the video and clicking on all those useless widgets!
  • csimpkins, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2New low? Hardly. Think AIM.
  • kpelley, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Ha, this will teach those users of myspace some sort of lesson..^H^H^H^H...then again maybe it won't. A lot of clueless users of myspace using Windows are going to have a nice few days ahead of them.
  • Zachariah, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3someone should start at public service website that will scan myspace pages for malware -- then it would be easier to notify the individual users
    • joerod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1myspace should have this on their service not some other company. I don't know why they are not developing things like this.
  • codeman38, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Also interesting is the fact that several of the videos in the screenshots are very clearly viral videos taken from other sites. Who wants to bet that none of the videos' original authors were tracked down and contacted about using the clips for commercial purposes?
  • fistofblood, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1http://duggmirror.com
  • joerod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4this is a really good idea by the creators of the ad-ware prog. most people who use myspace are pretty computer retarded. they will install anything that is easy, especially if they want that cool new video.
    • halleyscomet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"If someone is foolish enough for you to take advantage of them time and again, you have a moral obligation to continue taking advantage of them. If you don't, someone else will, and that would leave them exposed to someone even LESS scrupulous than you." -- Unknown

      Hence, the continued use of Newbies as a virus vector.
  • bpinard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yet another reason MySpace sucks. They need to restrict code.

    Use Facebook, please. Not only is the interface more plaeasing, it has a lot of cool features.

    Blocking ads doesn't distort the interface like it does on MySpace.
  • mgadalsky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Sounds interesting... But I'm not surpised.
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