Tracking a pirated software license

When Avast Software spotted a license for its avast! Pro Antivirus software being distributed online, they decided to do a simple experiment - they didn't take any action that would curb its spread, and simply monitored how many time the license will be used to register the software.

The license spread virally via file-sharing sites and has been detected on a number of warez sites around the world. After nearly a year and a half, 774,651 active users were tracked through their IP address, and it turns out that the software had been installed in more than 200 different countries - from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, Russia to Brazil, USA to the (unexpected!) Vatican City.

Avast Software is currently in the process of "converting" these users - they are actually trying to turn this experiment into a marketing opportunity. The following notice pops-up on the users' screen:


Upon pressing the "Fix this situation" button, they are notified that they will be cut off from virus database updates, but that they have a choice of converting to avast! Free Antivirus or buying avast! Pro Antivirus.

Free Security Tool Detects Malicious URLs On Twitter

The popularity of embedding shortened URLs into Twitter, Digg and other social media sites is being threatened by hackers who use the anonymity of these URLs to hide malicious websites.

AVG Technologies has released a free tool called LinkScanner that can detect the presence of malicious web pages. LinkScanner works by testing the destination of each URL in real time and does not use blacklists that quickly become outdated.

"People click with the intention of going to a specific site, but the link can be easily hacked to send people to a site containing Trojans, spyware, rootkits and other malware instead."

AVG says malicious web pages are the latest way that hackers and spammers deposit malware onto computers in order to steal passwords or recruit computers into botnets.

Computer users can become infected by clicking on a link, viewing an image, or sometimes just hovering their mouse over a banner. To avoid detection, hackers typically infect a specific web page for less than 24 hours before moving on.

AVG Releases Free Real-Time Search Virus Scanner

AVG has pretty good timing considering the recent success cybercrooks have had with manipulating search results to direct searchers to malicious websites. The security company released a free tool today that scans links before users click on them.

AVG LinkScanner, available for free download, checks URLs ahead of clicking by scanning the webpage and alerting the user if the site contains malicious code. When used in conjunction with Google, Yahoo, or MSN, the tool shows green check marks beside safe results and red exes beside unsafe ones. The tool also works with links in email, IMs, and bookmarks.

Available for Windows XP and Vista users, AVG's LinkScanner prevents users from downloading compromised webpages.

The tool scans pages individually, so prevention and labels only apply to one page on a given website, not the entire site itself.

The free scanning tool comes at a good time as Google has been struggling with malicious pages making their way high up in the search results before the search engine can identify them as attack sites. The problem has gotten bad enough that Google says its ranking algorithm will be tweaked to make this less likely.

No word yet on whether the tool also works with URL shorteners, used on social networks and microblogging platforms like Facebook and Twitter to fit links into character limits. Recently hackers have been using URL shorteners to trick users into clicking out to malicious sites.