New McAfee ‘report’
p2pnet news view Advertising | P2P:- US ‘anti-virus’ firm McAfee, which piggy-backs on the popularity of celebrities such as Jessica Biel and Brad Pitt to hype its product, is now using spam emails as a self-advertising tool.
It says spammers are “increasingly piggybacking on the reputation of big brand names to take advantage of their online audiences,” according to TechCentral.
“In its new spam report, McAfee also said that it was also seeing an increase in ‘targeted’ or ’spear’ phishing, and brand abuse in non-phishing e-mails,” says the story, going on:
“McAfee warned that corporations needed to be vigilant about the type of brand abuse that criminal gangs would use to ‘tap into’ their audiences.”
It “used to be easy to spot a spam message: poor language, misspellings, grammar errors, and sloppy graphics,” it says at, but, “the latest spams are professional, and almost foolproof.”
So who ya gonna call … ?
Meanwhile, as I posted in the story on Biel and Pitt, McAfee still owes p2pnet $$$ for using us for advertising purposes without our permission.
Anti-virus and security companies routinely pump out custom-made scare reports in the hope of frightening the gullible into buying `product` I said, going on, But Brad Pitt [in this instance, Jessica Biel] isn`t alone in being singled out to promote McAfee stuff â whether he likes it or not.
The same thing happened to p2pnet.
No! Really!”
I went on, `Why not bring this subject up with a lawyer and sue McAffee for defamation and so forth?` suggested p2pnet reader few bux in a comment post to my story McAfee targets p2pnet. Again.”
I added »»»
Biggie `security` company McAfee is implying p2pnet is a dodgy site with spyware and malpractice downloads, and it [McAfee] is doing so to promote its [McAfee's] so-called SiteAdvisor `service`.
Nor is this the first time. The company made exactly the same accusations last year.
You know how it works, I responded to few bux. Lawyers cost lots of money and I don`t have any.
The real danger, I added then and repeat now, is that someone might take McAfee seriously.
Jon Newton p2pnet
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
hype its product – McAfee shock-horror Jessica Biel report !, August 25, 2009
TechCentral – Latest spam e-mails are ‘almost foolproof’, October 13, 2009
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October 20th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Wait and see.
Every year (and this is a verifiable trend) around Jan or Feb, Norton and Mcafee will come out and say there is abig danger due to this virus or that trojan. It will get on CNN and be blasted all over to increase sales (same every year, its a trend).
I predict that this Jan-feb we will hear about a death bot coming out that you will need protection from and only Norton and Mcaffee can protect you (as with all the other years).
Bookmark this, then check back in Jan-Feb.
Been like this for over 6 years now. Anyone else notice the yearly big Jan-Feb drive to buy their product?
Which bady will it be due to this Jan-Feb?
October 20th, 2009 at 10:34 am
you know, i have never used virus protection, and in my entire life using computers, have only ever had two serious infections. i use registryfix once a week, and adaware/superantispyware once a fortnight, but most importantly I am CAREFUL when i browse. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no paranoid surfer (I have digital footprints from here to timbuktu over the years), I just know what to look for to spot dodgdy sites, erroneous downloads and general internet bad fluff. If more people did this, companies like mcafee would be out of a job; who needs virus protection when you can spot them yourself? imagine a world where everyone browsed safely, and worked together to make sure no big compnaies like this took over the internet, like they wish they could?
October 20th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
@rjackson, maybe you could talk to Jon about doing a piece on P2Pnet about how you surf so safely.
I get tired of feeding McAfee every year to keep my “protection” going!
October 20th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
@rjackson:
Either you’re lying to everyone (andyourself) about the amount of trouble you’ve brought on yourself by not safeguarding, or you probably haven’t been connected very long. Either way, nobody can possibly avoid trouble just by “being careful”. That’s just self-delusion in its classic form.
Being connected to the Internet while knowingly not being properly protected is simply stupid and unresponsible to the rest of the users on the wire. I’m willing to bet, if took a scan of your drive right now, I’d find a few good reasons to unplug you.
@(everyone else):
Whatever the truth is with rjackson, I would caution everyone else not to adopt such a childish attitude about this.
There’s simply NO EXCUSE. And, there’s more than just yourselves to worry about – think about the “global picture”. Anything that gets to someone else through you should, technically, be considered YOUR fault. (Particularly when you e-mail it to them from ignorance!)
You don’t have to use a security package that’s bloated with all sorts of resource-hogging activities, nor do you have to pay for one. Some really good, FREE programs that also respect your processor are out there!
Net Neutrality is one thing.
We all want to use the Internet without being told “how” to use it. Fine.
But, each of us still has an unwritten responsibility to protect ourselves (for our own good), and thus avoid transmitting the shit to someone else.
My life has revolved around computers. I’ve used and configured them since before they even had hard drives.
I have developed a considerable skill level over those years, and I won’t release a computer to The Wild until it’s protected. And, I would never make the claim that I could operate without such protection.
Nobody could possibly have that skill level.
You’d have be completely PSYCHIC to know what kinds of exploits are currently being developed and released.
And still, you wouldn’t be able to just “steer around” them.
October 20th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
@NO1UNO:
You don’t need to pay extortion fees to some big AV company like McAfee or Norton. Devil is right, there are some free AV and antispyware programs out there, this is what I use:
Clamwin AV: http://www.clamwin.com/
Free antivirus, auto updates, updates are free as well as the program
Spybot search and destroy: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Anti spyware program
Spywareblaster: http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
Another antispyware program using a different approach
DIY – Edit your hosts file!
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
October 20th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
The comments in the initial post recommended Kaspersky over McAfee, and I will recommend… working under non-admin accounts, using Opera and Firefox over IE, using Windows 2003 over Windows XP if you can (more secure) and… no antivirus at all.
Actually, if you are setting up a computer for your grandma to check e-mail, browse the web, read/edit some documents and to watch youtube, you are better off with a Linux machine, not Windows.
As for Kaspersky, its boss Eugene Kaspersky is advocating Internet passports. For me, this looks shady, especially when antivirus companies can have ties with secret services like KGB. Internet passports will prevent anonymous leaks about wrongdoings in our corrupt governments.
Quote:
If you had the power to change up to three things in the world today that are related to IT security, what would they be?
Internet designâthatâs enough.
Thatâs it? Whatâs wrong with the design of the Internet?
Thereâs anonymity. Everyone should and must have an identification, or Internet passport. The Internet was designed not for public use, but for American scientists and the U.S. military. That was just a limited group of peopleâhundreds, or maybe thousands. Then it was introduced to the public and it was wrong to introduce it in the same way.
Iâd like to change the design of the Internet by introducing regulationâInternet passports, Internet police and international agreementâabout following Internet standards. And if some countries donât agree with or donât pay attention to the agreement, just cut them off.
http://www.zdnetasia.com/insight/security/0,39044829,62058697,00.htm
October 20th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
@RW:
Yeah, I’m sure a LOT of countries like China, North Korea, Russia, as well as groups like the RIAA would just LOVE Kaspersky’s idea. I’ll take a pass on that one, thanks but no thanks.