StopBadware.org released a badware alert about the Uniscope Toolbars today. These toolbars are produced and distributed by RPM Performance Media, and include variants such as “MySpace Guardian”, “Amber Alert Toolbar”, and “BizRate Bar” :

We find that the Uniscope Toolbars are badware because they fail to inform users that the software will function as adware by inserting sponsored websites into search engine webpages when users search for particular keywords, and because the software fails to identify itself as the source of these advertisements.

We attempted to contact RPM Performance Media through the contact options provided on their website, but we received only an automated response acknowledging our communications.

We currently recommend that users do not install MySpace Guardian, Amber Alert Toolbar, BizRate bar, or other Uniscope Toolbars, unless users are comfortable with the behaviors we identify in our alert, or until the applications are updated to be consistent with the recommendations made in our alert.

Google has rolled out a new resource for owners of compromised websites that it flags as potentially dangerous in its search results.

Google Diagnostics shows information about malware and malware-distributing behaviors that Google has observed on the site within the past 90 days.

We’re already hearing from website owners and the volunteers in our discussion group that the new diagnostics pages are helpful in discovering problems with a site. We’d like to applaud Google for taking this step in greater transparency. This new resource should help website owners in cleaning and securing their sites faster, which will help protect even more internet users.

You can see an example diagnostics page here.

You may recall that StopBadware.org recently played a role in successfully encouraging Apple to improve its disclosure in pushing the Safari web browser to users through its Apple Software Update application. Now, Nitesh Dhanjani, a security researcher, writes about his recent interaction with Apple. Dhanjani alerted Apple to several potential issues that he discovered in the company’s web browser, Safari, most notably the potential for a “Safari Carpet Bomb.”

He writes that Safari “cannot be configured to obtain the user’s permission before it downloads a resource,” and provides this example:

Now assume that http://malicious.example.com/cgi-bin/carpet_bomb.cgi is the following:

#!/usr/bin/perl print “Content-type: blah/blah\n\n”

Since Safari does not know how to render content-type of blah/blah, it will automatically start downloading carpet_bomb.cgi every time it is served.”

CNET commented that files downloaded by Safari to the desktop on Windows, or the Downloads folder on Mac OS, create the potential for multiple files of unknown nature to mingle with legitimate downloads.

The Apple security team replied to Dhanjani’s emails courteously, but making it clear that this is not a security priority for the company:

We can file that as an enhancement request for the Safari team. Please note that we are not treating this as a security issue, but a further measure to raise the bar against unwanted downloads. This will require a review with the Human Interface team. We want to set your expectations that this could take quite a while, if it ever gets incorporated.

Assuming Nitesh’s analysis is accurate, “unwanted downloads,” as Apple calls them, represent a serious security threat to users, who can be easily tricked into executing a malicious file. StopBadware.org believes that users should have control over software being downloaded to their computers, and we encourage Apple to reconsider its stance and treat this as the security issue that it is.

StopBadware.org released a badware alert about Spyware Striker Pro today:

We find that Spyware Striker Pro is badware because it does not disclose the fact that it installs additional “Performance Center” software which is registered to run automatically at startup, and fails to remove this software when Spyware Striker Pro is uninstalled.

The company responsible for Spyware Striker Pro, Ascentive, responded to our communications about the application by assuring us that they intend to release a future version of Spyware Striker Pro that will disclose the bundled installation of Performance Center in the software’s End User License Agreement and will remove the software when Spyware Striker Pro is uninstalled. Although these changes will be welcome, the application will not fully comply with our recommendations unless it also discloses the software bundling in a clear and conspicuous manner outside of the EULA.

Until such an update is released, we recommend that users do not install Spyware Striker Pro unless users are comfortable with the behaviors that we identify in our alert.

Over the last several weeks, users downloaded more than they were bargaining for from several P2P networks. TechNewsWorld reported on McAfee’s Avert Labs that more than 500,000 computers have been infected. Users download a faux-mp3 file from a legitimate music group, which initiates a request that users download a codec offering free mp3s. By clicking on the EULA and authorizing the download, users are actually downloading a host of executables.

Craig Schmugar, a researcher for McAfee Avert Labs, wrote on that blog, “In the end you’re left with a fake MP3 file taking up space, a worthless MP3 player, adware that claims not only to not display popups, but also to block them, and more adware that successfully displays popup and popunder ads.” During further investigation, Schmugar found that hundreds of infected files were circulating on the internet. Many of those sites pointed to freemp3player.com or “different sites distributing adware and others still pose as codec installers that when run, display fake error messages and download and silently install tons of files.” The fake mp3 files were actually ASF files instructing media players to navigate to specific urls rife with downloads to further corrupt users’ computers.

More recently, Trend Micro researcher Ivan Macalintal found a malicious script inserted into “various Web sites believed to be either using poorly implemented phpBB, or are using older, exploitable versions of the said program.” The drive-by-download directed users to a compromised site which downloaded TROJ_ZLOB.CCW onto unprotected computers. Trend Micro notes that Zlobs in general, and this one in specific, change DNS and browser settings which further open the computer to future infections.

Both of these incidents reinforce the need to keep your security software updated. Downloading files from unknown sources carries with it inherent risk. Badware production has developed into an expanding economy that relies on a sense of inherent security associated with internet use.

Click safely!