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FTC ANNOUNCMENT ON POP-UPS

Posted By: Alex Ribeiro
Date: Thursday, 6 November 2003, at 5:35 p.m.

Hi Michael,

I came across this information that might be of interest to everyone on this forum.

Cheers mate,

Alex Ribeiro

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Posted 11/6/2003 2:11 AM Updated 11/6/2003 8:20 AM

FTC clamps down on stealth pop-ups

By Jayne O'Donnell, USA TODAY

The Federal Trade Commission is expected to announce restrictions Thursday on the computer scam artists responsible for most of the unauthorized pop-up ads that beleaguer personal computer users.
The targeted ads use Microsoft's Windows Messenger Service. The ads, in the form of text boxes, can appear any time a user is logged into a computer — during word processing, e-mail or any other program. They are distinguished from legitimate pop-up ads that are purchased, like other advertising, from Web sites by their lack of graphics. (Related graphic: See what the bogus pop-ups look like)

The restrictions are part of a U.S. District Court temporary restraining order against San Diego-based D Squared Solutions and officers Anish Dhingra and Jeffrey Davis. The FTC says D Squared used pop-up ads on the messenger service to advertise software that would block this type of pop-up.

The FTC also plans to warn about a security risk in Messenger Service that could allow hackers to send computer "worms." Worms are small programs, or malicious code, that self-replicate and can wipe out programs and allow hackers to control the computer.

Messenger Service is built into PCs using the Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP operating systems, all Windows PCs sold in the past two years. The messenger service — which is not instant messaging — is used by networks to alert users about problems. It has no benefit for home users.

Internet security expert Lawrence Baldwin says the restrictions address only the pop-up ads when the real problem is the vulnerability to a worm. "The fact that people receive these pop-ups is more of a nuisance than anything else," he says.

Baldwin, president of MyNetWatchman.com, says a worm launched through the messenger service could be the worst ever because 30% of home PCs have the messenger service built in, far more access than previous worms have had.

Microsoft notified users on Oct. 15 that the messenger service could permit hackers to take over computers.

"I'm certainly not going to be in the business of rating worms that have never happened and may not happen, but we issued a security bulletin for a reason," says Microsoft spokesman Sean Sundwall.

Microsoft is changing the default settings so the messenger service on new versions of Windows slated to be released the first half of next year is disabled.

The FTC recommends home users turn off Messenger Service or install a firewall. More information is available on the FTC Web site, www.ftc.gov.

Contributing: Byron Acohido

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