180Solutions

blog.spywareguide.com
Official: 180Solutions and Hotbar Merge Become Zango
Posted by Wayne Porter on June 7, 2006 05:09 AM

Yesterday we reported on speculation of a marriage between Hotbar and 180Solutions. Today it was announced that 180 Solutions had merged with Hotbar. The new name for the company will be Zango and it would probably be correct to assume they are now the largest adware maker on the Internet.

Copyright © is the original authors

Cyber Security Bulletin
Vulnerability Summary for the Week of May 15, 2006
Source: US-CERT

180solutions Zango downloads “required Adware components” without checking integrity or authenticity, which might allow context-dependent attackers to execute arbitrary code by subverting the DNS resolution of static.zangocash.com.

revenews
Wayne Porter
May 05, 2006

I have now received the response’s from Yap Browser. Special thanks to Anna of Sunbelt and Joeseph of Facetime for taking out time to provide translation services. The controversy all started when some researchers downloaded the Yap Browser which was bundled with 180 Solutions- Zango product, and the browser was serving up what appeared to be UA Porn (Under Age Porn). This seems to be a hot topic as of late. Heck even Jimmy Daniels checks in that Google is now being sued for child porn advertising.

Per the rules of engagement I will refrain from comments here. However trackbacks are on, if your trackback does not show up please e-mail me and I will put up a summary. On to the interview…

180Solutions targeting kids
SunBelt Blog
Monday, April 17, 2006

People often get adware on their systems through their kids. Children don’t read EULAs. They want the funny “punch the monkey�? video, so they click away. That’s why advertising adware to children is considered a Bad Thing.

180Solutions, the Yapbrowser and Child Porn
RealTechNews
April 17, 2006
By Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer

It seems that every week something bad is coming out about 180solutions, always some zealot as they call them exposing one of their affiliates forcing this crap on users computers, always a sorry, we didn’t know until you told us, we’ve removed them from our program, yadda, yadda, yadda. It’s never 180Solutions that is the problem, always someone else, some bad seed that they can’t bother to monitor. Well, the latest is not a forced download or driveby install, but is much, much worse in my opinion.

Software downloaded from 180Solutions servers is promoting child porn.

Yapbrowser: serves up Zango and…child porn?
Vitalsecurity
Monday, April 17, 2006

Shouldn’t A Child Porn Provider Be Considered A Rogue Distributor?
Tech Dirt
Contributed by Mike
Monday, April 17th, 2006
from the keeping-out-the-rogue-distributors,-huh? dept

Remember how 180solutions had promised that with their latest rewrite they were absolutely keeping out “rogue” distributors? It has already been shown that this isn’t true, but it seems things may be looking even worse for them. Someone who prefers to remain anonymous has submitted a story about a new “browser app” that installs 180solution’s “Zango” adware… and also has the rather damning feature of taking over your browser and sending you to child porn sites, no matter where you try to surf online. As the article notes: “It’s not like it’s a hidden Easter egg, for God’s sake - you come across it by using the primary function of the browsing application. You know, the big, green “Go” button.” If 180solutions can’t even stop distributors like this one from offering their software, you have to wonder which “rogue” distributors they’re actually stopping.

180solutions sponsors Yapbrowser and… child porn?
ZDNet
April 17, 2006
Posted by Suzi Turner

My head is swimming and I feel ill. I just read the blogs about 180solutions’ latest — Yapbrowser, installed from 180’s servers no less, that directs all search requests to child porn sites. And this from a company that has made countless claims of cleaning up their act. Oh, but — 180 does like to talk about the “long tail” of the internet and “trusting the affiliate model”

Excuse me while I get sick.

180 Solutions Re-Revisited Metallica Style- The YapBrowser
revenews
wayne porter
April 17, 2006

While Direct Revenue wrestle with their own problems explaining to Mr. Spitzer about Aurora and nail.exe it appears 180 Solutions has some explaining to do as we see yet another nail driven into the proverbial coffin. Much less a nail but more like someone took a high speed staple gun and went all the way around the lid. Where is that audit department?

ADDENDUM: Suzi Turner of ZDNET’s Spyware Confidential asks and even better question: “What legitimate company would want to be affiliated with 180solutions after learning of 180’s apparent liaison with child porn and CoolWebSearch?”

NOTE: As of 6:00 pm Eastern Time the domains seem to be down: yapsearch, yapbrowser and yapcash are returning page not found and unresponsive to ping.

Copyright © is the original authors.

By Benjamin Edelman

People of the State of New York v. Direct Revenue, LLC

Introduction

This page provides case documents associated with the New York Attorney General’s suit against Direct Revenue, including documents beyond those publicly posted by the Attorney General’s office..

These documents are lengthy, so I have attempted to identify and flag sections likely to be of particular interest to typical readers. In general I flag explicit discussion of malevolent or otherwise controversial actions, financial information (including revenues and payouts), and information about Direct Revenue’s partners. I welcome and specifically solicit readers’ contributions as to other sections of particular interest.

This page currently reflects only a portion of the New York Attorney General documents I have obtained. I am working to add additional documents within the next 1-2 days.

Although many of the documents provided here are labeled “confidential” (e.g. via stamps on the PDF pages), I received these documents with a specific indication that they are all now public materials, and that they may all be shared with the public. My understanding is that all the materials posted on this page are available in the New York County Clerk’s office.

Plaintiff’s Documents

Complaint - Claims a repeated and persistent pattern of non-consensual spyware installation, including deceptive installations and installations through security vulnerabilities. Argues that Direct Revenue is factually and legally responsible for the deceptive installations of its spyware. Claims that Direct Revenue’s spyware is invasive, harmful, and hard to remove. Includes claims under New York’s General Business Law (prohibiting false advertising and deceptive business practices), New York’s Penal Law (prohibiting computer tampering), and New York’s common law prohibitions against trespass. Seeks relief including prohibiting installations of any ad-serving or behavior monitoring software, providing an accounting of all revenues, and paying money damages for deceptive practices.

Introduction - Research - Legislation - Pending Suits - Disclosures page here

Copyright © is the original authors.

Ben Edelman
February 20 , 2006
Nonconsensual 180 Installations Continue, Despite 180’s “S3″ Screen

On Friday morning (February 17), I received a nonconsensual installation of 180solutions Zango software through a security exploit.

But what’s newsworthy here is that 180solutions got installed, even though 180 last year told the world that these nonconsensual installations were impossible.

180’s October press release correctly describes the serious harms that occur when users receive many advertising programs. “A myriad of unwanted software … can often negatively impact system performance,” 180 admitted. But 180 then claimed that S3 would keep 180 out of such bundles. I disagree. According to my records, the installation at issue also installed Ad-w-a-r-e, Adservs, Integrated Search Technologies, Internet Optimizer, Media Tickets, New.net, Quicklinks, Surfsidekick, Tagasaurus, Targetsaver, Toolbar888, Ucmore, Webhancer, Web Nexus, WinFixer, and more. These many programs collectively bombarded my test PC with an incredible 730 registry keys, 1194 registry values, 461 files, and 43 file folders. Worse, the newly-installed programs caused 61 processes to run on my test PC, via 24 EXEs set to load each time I turned on my computer. The programs even added three different toolbars to my web browser.

Copyright © is the original authors.