Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsHeadlinesRSS
14,000 hints and counting!


Click here to return to the 'Just downloaded it -- badness is confirmed' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Just downloaded it -- badness is confirmed
Authored by: twalkabout on May 12, '04 05:57:55PM

I wanted to check out this script to confirm what everybody is talking about, so I did a search for 2004 and Word in limewire, and lo and behold there it was. Of course I did this in an empty user account that I have on my computer, just in case. It is set up as a .sit file -- which in fact it is. After unstuffing it, then a nice and pretty Microsoft Icon pops up on the desktop. After examining the Get Info window, nothing mentioned anything about an apple script. I did not run it, because I don't even want to see what happens in a dummy account, in case it somehow messes with my main account. I opened it in the apple script editor, and it is simply one line of scary looking text. I made a screenshot, but I'm not sure how to post an image? I will email it to Rob and maybe he'll post it.

This concerns me greatly for a couple different reasons:
1) There is no easy way to tell this is not what it says (i.e. get info)
2) Now I am going to have to be concerned about every file I open up, which I previously was not. There has got to be a way for Apple to provide some protection to this
3) I know there are a lot of people out there who are like, "you should know better, that's what you get for downloading from limewire, etc", but for the vast majority of mac users, who know very little about computers, and nothing about unix -- this is not good for them, and therefore not good for mac.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Just downloaded it -- badness is confirmed
Authored by: cynikal on May 12, '04 07:39:41PM

"..There has got to be a way for Apple to provide some protection to this"

When going outside, a meteor could fall from the sky and kill me. I guess i should either not go outside, or ask the mayor to do something about this..

The best protection is abstinance.. it's never fun but it's 100%, don't use a computer, and you won't lose any data.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Just downloaded it -- badness is confirmed
Authored by: jeffiel on May 12, '04 09:58:37PM

I haven't done the search for the file, but wouldn't the file size of an 8 byte script with a little bitmap be a tip-off that it isn't the bloatware of M$FT office applications?

Or is the trojan padded with a few dozen megs of junk?

-jeff



[ Reply to This | # ]
Just downloaded it -- badness is confirmed
Authored by: cynikal on May 13, '04 07:16:10PM

Initially i would totally agree with you. But as someone else has mentioned before, it was claimed to be a web installer, which itself is small but downloads the files it needs over the web.



[ Reply to This | # ]