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Security Software News

The State Of Grayware On the PC 132

Posted by Soulskill from the not-about-an-alienware-knockoff dept.
Checkers and Pogo writes "Grayware inhabits a murky area between pure malware and useful apps, and it's a growing problem. 38.1% of all malicious PC software falls into the grayware category, and so-called 'grayware 2.0' is targeting social-networking sites. Ars Technica's Jeremy Reimer notes, 'The "threat" of rogue applications like SuperWall wasn't immediately obvious: they seemed more like annoyances than real security risks. But as users entered more and more personal information into their Facebook accounts, it became clear that the possibilities for abuse were rampant. For example, because Facebook allows users to "tag" photos with the names of friends, it is possible for third-party apps to distribute photos that a user might only want to be seen by their inner circle of friends.'"
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The State Of Grayware On the PC More

The State Of Grayware On the PC

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  • Goddamn BonziBUDDY (Score:5, Funny)

    by eldavojohn ( 898314 ) * <eldavojohn@gm a i l . com> on Thursday April 24, 2008 @02:46PM (#23188244) Journal
    Yeah, WinAmp was bad. But I'll never forget the day in college when my roommate downloaded and installed BonziBUDDY [wikipedia.org] on my computer!

    That goddamn ad injecting mal-ware sporting purple gorilla that was based on the dead soul of Clippy can rot in hell for eternity!

    There's "free" as in gratis and libre and then there's a third kind of "free" as in wake-up-in-a-bathtub-packed-with-ice-minus-one-kidney free.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Yes, but that was ADWARE, not true SPYWARE in the sense that it didn't ACTIVELY collect data
      other than what you clicked on when it popped up ads 10 times per second.

      Super annoying to be sure, but not (quite) the threat some made it out to be.
      Although in this day and age some of the ads it would serve up could be trojans.

      Rule of thumb - college buddies don't get admin access... not to my box, bed, bathroom, or toothbrush.

      • Yes, but that was ADWARE, not true SPYWARE in the sense that it didn't ACTIVELY collect data
        other than what you clicked on when it popped up ads 10 times per second.


        Right, but some of what it popped up contained drive-by downloads of real malware/spyware, so calling it ADWARE isn't quite accurate -- I think the GP is right to call it 'grayware'.

    • Re:Goddamn BonziBUDDY (Score:5, Funny)

      by Sciros ( 986030 ) on Thursday April 24, 2008 @02:55PM (#23188380) Journal
      NOOOO stop bringing up BONZI BUDDY! What we thought would be an amusing evening of getting a purple gorilla to say things like "punch me in the testicles" and various "yo momma" jokes turned into a nightmare that can only be compared to when all the people in the beginning of Ghost Ship get cut in half by a cable and it looks really fake and lame but still gross. Only intead of a ship it was my computer, and instead of a cable, it was Bonzi. After much kung fu, I banished him from our dorm room, but he still haunts me in my dreams.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by esocid ( 946821 )
      Gator [wikipedia.org] was a piece of shit too. I can recall stumbling upon that wondering how it got there and why and then taking the time to find out how to remove it completely. Awful.
      In terms of facebook, which I'm contemplating removing all my pictures/info from and "deleting" my account, I remember going to kongregate, a flash game site, and discovering that it had some sneaky little trick of noticing I had a cookie from facebook and it sent some shit to my account. I quickly rectified that by changing all my privacy

      • Re:Goddamn BonziBUDDY (Score:5, Funny)

        by AioKits ( 1235070 ) on Thursday April 24, 2008 @03:11PM (#23188610)
        Arrgh, Gator... Don't get me started. One place I worked (not gonna name it, could get in trouble), all the secretaries had that damned thing on their systems cause of the cute kitten cursors they offered. We'd have to take the machine and most the times just restage it to clean it and hand it back. A few days later, gator was back. They wanted their cute kitten cursors. Eventually the net admin for that facility just blocked the gator site outright. He was forced to unblock it when a score of unhappy secretaries descended upon administration wanting their 'harmless kitty icons'. "But they're kittens! Who doesn't love kittens?!" *sigh*

        • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

          by Anonymous Coward
          So why didn't the idiots in IT (or was that you?) just get a set of kitten cursors and add them to the machines?
        • Your Admin should have just found kitten cursors then, problem solved. Not that hard...

          • Your Admin should have just found kitten cursors then, problem solved. Not that hard...
            My thoughts too. I had just started college around that time, was working there because I was promised some opportunities. He seemed to feel it was beneath him to look for kitten icons. Since my position there was right below spittoon, I was had no say in anything.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by NibbleG ( 987871 )
          Same thing happened where I was, except is was the purple gorilla, and I was a student at BOCES at the time (no joke, I was in for IT). For some reason half the secretarial staff took a week off and some of the IT students were asked to answer the phones and what not. When I saw Bonzibuddy was on all of the machines I just about walked away. But we got that cleaned up in an afternoon. Never trust underpaid, under informed secretarial staff...
        • I would've made a policy of reimaging any computer with Gator installed. If they want kittens, go get some plush ones and put them in your cube.
    • Hey... at least you got that free bath out of it :P.

    • Re:Goddamn BonziBUDDY (Score:4, Informative)

      by sm62704 ( 957197 ) on Thursday April 24, 2008 @03:33PM (#23188944) Journal
      Yeah, WinAmp was bad

      Ok buddy thanks a lot. Winamp is my second favorite media player (XMMS is my favorite). You made me RTFA.

      In the heady days of the dot com boom, many software companies were happy enough to give out free software and trust that the money would somehow arrive later, magically (some, like the authors of WinAmp, would live to see this happen when their company was bought by America Online). Other companies released trial or demo copies of their software which could be unlocked for a fee.
      That was the only place in TFA the word "winamp" appeared.

      So what was/is so bad about winamp? Yeah XMMS is better but afaik it won't run in Windows.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by eepok ( 545733 )
        I had the same reaction. I don't know of anything wrong with WinAmp except that it doesn't have *as* small a footprint as some very few other media players. But considering its features, plethora of skins, and ease of us, I don't see anything wrong with it.
      • I am pretty sure they weren't talking about the Winamp core. There were several spyware plugins released for the Winamp platform. These posed as visualizers, editing, input and other such things posted to the Winamp homepage for download. Someone wrote a comment on another thread a few days ago about that dancer thing being spyware. I can't remember what it was called.
      • XMMS does not, as far as I am aware, but xmms2 does:
        http://wiki.xmms2.xmms.se/index.php/Windows [xmms2.xmms.se]

    • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Don't forget my favorite kind of free, which I must attribute to the unknown Slashdot poster:

      Free as in (lowlife British accent) Free Hundred Quid.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by vimh42 ( 981236 )
      Wow, you just coined a great new term. 'Free as in kidney.' I must go use this wonderful gem.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by dbIII ( 701233 )
      That purple gorilla helped cost me a job. The user would complain about their computer being slow. I would remove the crapware and return the thing in a functional state. The user would see the gorilla was gone, get angry, load it on again and then complain that the computer was slow. This cycle repeated several times with the user getting more angry each time and when others backed me up became convinced that IT people have some sort of conspiracy to pick on users that dared to have something "fun" in

  • For the uninformed (Score:5, Informative)

    by Ethanol-fueled ( 1125189 ) * on Thursday April 24, 2008 @02:49PM (#23188284) Homepage Journal

    These are the most popular examples of Grayware - avoid whenever possible:
    -Norton anything
    -Mcaffee anything
    -Microsoft anything
    -Myspace anything
    -Facebook anything
    -Sony anything
    -iTunes
    -"Quick"time
    -Realplayer

    Also:
    -Never click on the duck
    -Never click on the monkey
    -Never click on the blinkenlights
    -Never click on "yes" or "I agree" -If you still manage to get a popup, consult your country's extrortion laws

    You've been warned.

    • Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)

      by Stormwatch ( 703920 )
      I did try to find an alternative to iTunes, open source or just freeware, but I couldn't find anything as easy to use and feature-complete.

      • Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)

        by KGIII ( 973947 )
        It is a bit off topic but I figured I'd respond. I'm not sure if you tried it but it is free and I personally like it a great deal. Give JetAudio [cowon.com] a shot. The pay version is nicer but, as a player, it's fantastic though I prefer the older versions.
      • Including iTunes was a bit heavy-handed, I admit. A better idea would have been to cite WinAmp. If one dosen't like Windows, they can use mac or linux but with personal media players you're pretty much stuck with whatever software their manufacturer wants you to use.

        • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

          by Anonymous Coward
          Hardly so. You were on the dot. I'd pick XMMS or Winamp over iTunes anyday, with the older Winamp 2.x series being the best of the lot. And iTunes follows the same bundling thing with Quicktime, and installing its auto-updater. Personally, I'd much rather prefer to manage my collection myself and treat a music player as if it were a USB hard disk.
      • What about Amarok?
    • Xanga is really nasty too. A friend of mine's kids used it and his machines all acted like they went to the orgy with Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Britney Spears where Tila Tequila showed up later and sat on their faces.
    • grayware?

      Huh. Grayware.. I figured this must be domestically branded software purchased overseas, reimported, and installed domestically.

    • You forgot: (Score:3, Informative)

      by crhylove ( 205956 )
      There's a few you forgot.

      -All versions of Winamp after 2.81
      -Adobe Acrobat
      -AOL
      -java
      -99% of all "security" software (not just limited to Norton and Mcaffee, but those are the worst/most common!
      -I'm sure I'm forgetting some more huge ones!

      Also:
      If you really want a very clean system, I suggest using Portable Apps (google it). Tons of great FOSS programs that will not touch the registry or do anything but run and only run when they are opened:

      Pidgin
      GIMP
      Firefox 3 (Beta 5)
      Open Office
      Audacity
      Sudoku
      Texas Hold'em (O
    • How in the name of FSM did this get modded insightful? There is nothing wrong with iTunes or Quicktime. Quicktime is not greyware -- it does exactly what it is supposed to do, and costs nothing unless you need the pro features. It does not pop up ads on your machine. It does not report anything back to Apple. It "just works." iTunes is, while a bit bloated, a very capable, and free, media manager/viewer. Most Windows programs should wish to be as well programmed, and kept up to date, as these two fine piece

  • There is no Dana, only Zuul. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by snarfies ( 115214 ) on Thursday April 24, 2008 @02:50PM (#23188308) Homepage
    The article defines this "greyware" "vectors of attack." PROTIP: If the software has any sort of vector to launch any sort of attack on any machine, it is malware, pure and simple. Calling it "greyware" is a whitewash of some dark stuff.
    • Agreed. Malicious software is only what it is, malicious. Even if it does perform some decent functionality you are better off finding an alternative piece of software that can perform the same task. Odds are, you can find an OS equivalent.

    • MOD PARENT UP (Score:5, Insightful)

      by dreamchaser ( 49529 ) on Thursday April 24, 2008 @03:05PM (#23188516) Homepage Journal
      Even coining the term 'greyware' is just a form of social engineering. "Oh it can't be THAT bad. I mean, it's grey, not black."

      Malware is malware. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call it a duck. There is no such thing as 'greyware'.

      • Re:MOD PARENT UP (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 24, 2008 @03:15PM (#23188660)
        Well, I was originally gonna post something about DRM being grayware, since there's an arguably useful thing (media) with something else harmful (DRM) piggybacking on it. But if grayware is a sham term, then I guess that just means that DRM really is malware.

        Suck it, Sony!
        • Your ideas are relevant to my interests. I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

          Seriously, I consider all DRM to be a form of malware in a sense.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by kent_eh ( 543303 )

          Well, I was originally gonna post something about DRM being grayware, since there's an arguably useful thing (media) with something else harmful (DRM) piggybacking on it.
          I believe the proper term for something good with something harmful piggybacking on it is Trojan.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward
        The thing is, it doesn't look like a duck, it looks like a swan.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by jimmux ( 1096839 )

        To my knowledge, there isn't even such a thing as "blackware" or "whiteware". The latter sounds like a brand of undergarments.

        Anyway, I would stay away from grayware, if only because the American spelling makes me cringe. Greyware on the other hand...

    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      You really just lumped a lot of software (quicktime, for ex) into the malware catagory.

      I would distinguish between the INTENT of delivering a vector to be abused and the later discovery of a vulnerability in an otherwise usefull utility.

      Every block of code has a vulnerability. Paint the world malware and you'll miss the INTENT, which I would argue is at LEAST as important as the exploit itself.
    • So then, by that definition, SMTP/POP is malware.

      Really, I don't know how TFA is defining "greyware" but just from the commonsense interpretation of the words, I'd think it meant something that possibly might be desirable, but could be prone to abuse.

      If I give you my email address, I trust that you'll use it to send me email that I want to receive. If you turn around and send me spam, you've violated my trust.

      If I provide software sensitive personal data, such as financial information or medical infor

  • 5 pages (Score:5, Insightful)

    by esocid ( 946821 ) on Thursday April 24, 2008 @02:53PM (#23188330) Journal
    Ok, /.ers don't RTFA anyway but I'll sum up the 5 pages. History of malware...gator....trojans et al....there will always be malware that avoids detection...in the future mobile devices are going to be targeted more than they are now. Constantly updating browsers are good...yadda yadda...don't be stupid and be skeptical.
    Tada!

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by mikkl666 ( 1264656 )

      don't be stupid and be skeptical
      Or, to be more precise, don't be a dick.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sm62704 ( 957197 )
      History of malware...

      I had to RTFA because somebody said "winamp was bad". I didn't read far; its history was wrong. It claimed that malware started when the internet becaie popular during the dotcom boom.

      Malware has been around longer than PCs. "Boot sector viruses" were the norm during the eighties when freeware was passed around and sold on floppys and BBSes. A book on computer viruses I read some time in the eighties had the first virus sometime in the seventies iirc.

      -mcgrew

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by PitaBred ( 632671 )
        A virus isn't really in the same class as this malware. They're calling it "greyware" because it doesn't try to fuck up your PC, it adds "services" which are dodgy and expose you to all kinds of interesting privacy and security exploitation. The first viruses were almost purely destructive or annoying, there were no "ulterior motives" like there is with this malware that DID start with the Internet getting popular.

  • OH MY GOD !! (Score:5, Funny)

    by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Thursday April 24, 2008 @02:54PM (#23188368) Homepage Journal
    For example, because Facebook allows users to "tag" photos with the names of friends, it is possible for third-party apps to distribute photos that a user might only want to be seen by their inner circle of friends.

    I can't even conceive of a threat to national security larger than this!

    • Re:OH MY GOD !! (Score:4, Funny)

      by spun ( 1352 ) <loverevolutionary&yahoo,com> on Thursday April 24, 2008 @03:12PM (#23188628) Journal
      I know! I mean, it's not like Nazi/Adult Baby BDSM parties are actually illegal. What do I care if my personal pictures of myself dressed as Hitler in diaper getting spanked by a fat cross dressing Eva Braun get distributed over the web? Sheesh, some people are SO whiney!

      • Re:OH MY GOD !! (Score:5, Funny)

        by QuantumRiff ( 120817 ) on Thursday April 24, 2008 @03:17PM (#23188700)
        Stop posting on slashdot, and go back to running your campaign for election please!

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by zebadee ( 551743 )
        "I know! I mean, it's not like Nazi/Adult Baby BDSM parties are actually illegal. What do I care if my personal pictures of myself dressed as Hitler in diaper getting spanked by a fat cross dressing Eva Braun get distributed over the web? Sheesh, some people are SO whiney!"

        Well it didn't work out too well for Max Mosley did it?

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by owlnation ( 858981 )

          I know! I mean, it's not like Nazi/Adult Baby BDSM parties are actually illegal.

          Well, Nazi things actually are illegal in a number of countries - Germany for example. I'd think there was a good possibility if you were a visitor to Germany, and the authorities knew you liked wearing nazi things, you'd at lest be detained for interrogation. Also, BDSM stuff is technically illegal in the UK (but then almost everything is illegal in the UK -- unless its the Brown (shirt) Government breaking the law, then it's

      • Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)

        by mikkl666 ( 1264656 )
        I think Godwin's Law applies here...
      • *ding*ding*ding* You win the thread! I needed a good laugh today. Too bad I don't have mod points. :-)
    • I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. When we hear that the NSA and CIA had ordered Facebook to enable backdoor plugins to every profile, every app, and every browser type used to reach FB.

      Aggregating the information of a few million users will be NICE input to Visual Analytics...

      But, why IS IT that Facebook apps need to KNOW almost everything about the user's profile?

      Why cannot FB use some sort of restrictions database (I imagine they do to a POINT, but not as well as could our OUGHT to be...) to control
      • The FBI will finally be able to round up the millions of teenage terrorists here in the US. Thank god I took my pictures of my homemade plutonium detonator off Facebook else I would have been in serious trouble.
    • Haha, I completely agree! While that might be a problem in a couple of occasions I fail to see real danger here. It is so trivial that it is not even worth mentioning.
    • I can't even conceive of a threat to national security larger than this!

      It's a good thing you can't see the R & D planss on my private Facebook page. They are secure there and only my close circle of engineers can view it to help develop the virus and it's vaccine.
    • This already exists via this Grease Monkey script: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/11218 [userscripts.org]

      You can now see all photos of your friends (even if they were taken by someone else and marked for friends only).

  • Shades of Gray (Score:5, Funny)

    by suck_burners_rice ( 1258684 ) on Thursday April 24, 2008 @03:10PM (#23188596)
    If we're going to start using the term "grayware" to describe software that falls somewhere between a useful application and a piece of malware, then we need to start using the term "blackware" to refer to malware, and "whiteware" to refer to useful software. By the same token, some software could be "light gray ware," other could be "dark gray ware," et cetera. Whiteware that contains exploitable bugs should be termed "off-white ware" and security software which would otherwise be termed whiteware but could be used by a malcontent for evil purposes should be termed "whiteware with black polka dots." We could further extend this concept to include whiteware that could be dangerous if misused, such as software that controls a nuclear rocket; such software would be termed "redware." Software that helps the environment would be called "greenware." Now all we need is something for "blueware" and we can use the entire color space to describe a computer program.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      You forgot BROWNWARE, software that is pure shit.

    • Re:Shades of Gray (Score:5, Funny)

      by RobertB-DC ( 622190 ) * on Thursday April 24, 2008 @03:24PM (#23188820) Homepage Journal
      If we're going to start using the term "grayware" to describe software that falls somewhere between a useful application and a piece of malware, then we need to start using the term "blackware" to refer to malware, and "whiteware" to refer to useful software [...] We could further extend this concept to include whiteware that could be dangerous if misused, such as software that controls a nuclear rocket; such software would be termed "redware." Software that helps the environment would be called "greenware." Now all we need is something for "blueware" and we can use the entire color space to describe a computer program.

      Don't be silly. This is a highly technical forum.

      You have to include hex codes.

      blackware = 0x000000
      grayware = 0x808080
      light gray ware = 0xC0C0C0
      off-white ware = 0xE0E0E0
      whiteware w/black polka dots = 0xFFFFFF + (0x000000 * $chance_of_exploit)
      whiteware = 0xFFFFFF

      redware = 0xFF0000
      greenware = 0x00FF00
      blueware = 0x0000FF

      And of course:

      tupperware = Varies by kitchen [tupperwareindia.com]
      underware = 0xyoudontwannaknow

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Peet42 ( 904274 )
        From that link, here's a line that would immediately appear in any Micro$oft EULA:

        Note: Colors are indicative may not match with actual product color.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by asylumx ( 881307 )
        Unfortunately for some, underware = 0xDEADBEEF ... or for those lucky few (seldom found on /.) underware = 0xCAFEBABE

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by iainl ( 136759 )
          I was about to accuse you of cheating, since they're 4-byte codes. But if 0xCAFEBABE's underwear has an opacity of CA that makes a bizarre amount of sense.
      • underware = 0xyoudontwannaknow

        OT: I went through a department store today where I saw a sign directing me to "Men's Underfashions".

        WTF? Are they insinuating that my Homer Simpson boxers are not trendy enough?

    • If we're going to start using the term "grayware" to describe software that falls somewhere between a useful application and a piece of malware, then we need to start using the term "blackware" to refer to malware, and "whiteware" to refer to useful software. By the same token, some software could be "light gray ware," other could be "dark gray ware," et cetera. Whiteware that contains exploitable bugs should be termed "off-white ware" and security software which would otherwise be termed whiteware but could be used by a malcontent for evil purposes should be termed "whiteware with black polka dots." We could further extend this concept to include whiteware that could be dangerous if misused, such as software that controls a nuclear rocket; such software would be termed "redware." Software that helps the environment would be called "greenware." Now all we need is something for "blueware" and we can use the entire color space to describe a computer program.

      This is exactly the kind of forward thinking I'm looking for in a lead designer for my new "tealware" project!

    • Now all we need is something for "blueware" and we can use the entire color space to describe a computer program.
      Software that cause a BSOD?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rts008 ( 812749 )
      I can only display 256 colors, you insensitive clod!

      I won't get to experience all of the nuances of your 'shades of grayware', but now I'm dithering....
    • Isn't it obvious what would constitute blueware? [wikipedia.org]
    • Blueware for porn. The circle is complete.
      cyanware: hippy porn!!
      yelloware: the colour of an Exon shareholder's trowsers on the day the hippies get a superpower
      Now I'm wondering what magentaware is. (>_) I'm going to stop now.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dave562 ( 969951 )
      I think that Microsoft has a lock on blueware. It's that special state your computer boots into at only the most opportune moments. A state of complete uselessness.
    • We do have something for "blueware".... are you forgetting Windows?

    • Now all we need is something for "blueware" [...]
      We already have such software. It's called "Windows". Older versions of course being particularly 'blue' in nature.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday April 24, 2008 @03:19PM (#23188724)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Not only are some of these apps extremely annoying, including advertisements next to games and etc, its now very common for them to use incentives (eg extra levels or whatever) to get people to invite all their friends to the application. facebook's devs addressed it in a blog post [facebook.com] but it remains a problem. the whole system looked bad from the start, so i personally reject all applications that aren't facebook related. even so, its to the point now where i'm thinking of shutting down my account.
    • I'm feeling better every day for never having bothered with Facebook or MySpace. I just never saw the "point", I guess.
  • ... computer malware copy the lifecycle of their organic counterparts; some viruses and parasites, in order to remain in the host, evolved to grant some advantage to the host in question. The analogy in the computer realm is this "greyware" - the advantage being some valid function (legitimate program), and the parasitic or viral aspect being the malicious part of the greyware in question.

    Not all viruses evolve in this manner, however. Some just entangle themselves so deeply it's impossible to remove, or

  • What were they thinking? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dangitman ( 862676 ) on Thursday April 24, 2008 @06:56PM (#23192054)

    For example, because Facebook allows users to "tag" photos with the names of friends, it is possible for third-party apps to distribute photos that a user might only want to be seen by their inner circle of friends.'"

    Yeah, malware is bad, but if somebody thinks those photos are going stay "within their core circle of friends" when they post them on Facebook, they need their head checked. You know, people in your "circle of friends" have other friends too, that are in other circles of friends. They will surely get passed between the two groups. Even if that doesn't happen, somebody in your "circle" will have an insecure computer.

    The bottom line is that if you think you can keep your photos private when posting them online, you are deluding yourself. An idea might be to not take them in the first place if you don't want them seen by others.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Don_dumb ( 927108 )
      I am not sure that is entirely fair. Facebook specifically gives the option for each photo album as to whether you friends, your friends friends, or the whole world has access to your pictures on Facebook.

      Your friends could of course download your pictures and then post to other people them themselves but that makes Facebook no less secure than emailing your photos out. The difference is on Facebook people don't go around recieving and forwarding the photos on, they just look at the albums, so I think that

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Harin_Teb ( 1005123 )
      The real problem is not me posting pictures of myself, so much as someone else posting pictures of ME and then tagging me. Granted I think if your doing something stupid and let someone take your picture its your own damn fault, but when you are doing something innocuous (such as drinking water from the ubiquitous red cup) and someone posts a picture of it with the tag line "OMG underage drinking is teh funne$t!!1!" and my name attached to it, THAT can have serious repercussions... which are 100% undeserve
      • What you need to do is stop being underage. But seriously, your point is very valid. But what do we do about it? This is why I don't participate in Facebook and other sites like it.
  • http://bt.ins.com/ [ins.com] just released a survey about how companies view and respond to the malware threat

    WARNING PDF go http://bt.ins.com/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=2665 [ins.com] to view

    I also did an interview @ DarkReading.com http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=151382&WT.svl=news1_1 [darkreading.com] about the survey.

    DISCLAIMER: I work for BT, but the survey is pretty unbiased IMHO.

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