New Morpheus Gives Web Surfers A Detour

[JackSpratts]

StreamCast Networks, distributor of the popular software, is quietly counting the number of times its file swappers visit high-profile shopping sites.
The company on Tuesday said it has begun installing a Web browser add-on that sends some Morpheus users on an invisible Web detour aimed at capturing data about file swappers' surfing habits.
http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...es/9407158.htm

- js.

[goldie]

All I can say is:

[djakrse]

hmm, THAT must be why i quit using morpheus.
_________
[morpheus]

[snowman]

I did a bit of research on this type of DLL. They are called Browser Helper Objects or BHO's by Microsoft.

When one of these DLL connects to a Internet Exploder instance running under a Windows OS it can see everything the browser does. It can also connect to ALL instances of the browser.

This includes capturing all pages displayed, keystrokes & mouse clicks. ( read passwords, preferences, registry etc ) It most certainly lasts past Morpheus session until you shut down the last browser instance. It can also write to a file or network port which it means it can deliver data anywhere.

I think if it could also spawn a process it’s effects would last a beyond the browser session if the author was a bit creative.

So if you write one of these things and could get it installed as part of a trusted installer script you can basically deliver a Trojan horse type program that can run amok of the target system.

Spyware? Of course.

This is how these things work and are typically implemented. So the question is has Streamcast abandoned its pledge not to have Spyware? Seems likely.