Spyware Hammer Account Suspended

Dale,

I just tried going to SpywareHammer, and also was "greeted" with the message that my account there has (likewise) been suspended.

I'm wondering if this is a temporary glitch, or if it might be an indication that SpywareHammer might be discontinuing (due to lack of activity there, and/or cost to maintain the site).

I'm gonna get in touch with BB and/or Jim to try to find out.

Just heard back from "BamaJim", who founded SpywareHammer, that they "pulled the plug on SpywareHammer as of June 1st" :-(

So SpywareHammer is gone, as a help forum :-( 

It's "Social Media" sites --- such as its page on Facebook --- still remain.

The malvertizers with XSS links on seemingly harmless sites have won.

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks are a type of injection attack where cybercriminals deliver malicious script or code to a client browser, often via a vulnerable web application. In this type of attack, cybercriminals trick users’ browser into executing malicious code. A classic example is causing a browser to display a popup with a link to a website that installs malware.

This is why I object to the trolls that keep showing up here saying I will help you or I will show you how I fixed the problem.  Just Click here outside the Dell Forum to read my blog/answer.

Youtube is very bad about these things where they say watch my video or click the links in my video description with the same thing.

No one mentioned Cross-Site Scripting as the reason why SpywareHammer folded.   If anyone knows how to prevent malware from attacking their site, it's BamaJim and BugBatter.

I'm assuming the decision was economic:   maintaining and running a website is NOT free.   While SpwareHammer accepted donations, I take for granted much of the expense to register the site was paid-for by individuals (such as BamaJim).   If he was no longer in a position to fund the site... or if, due to lack of interest by the public, he felt the site was no longer needed... it was his call to "pull the plug".

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@ky331 wrote:

No one mentioned Cross-Site Scripting as the reason why SpywareHammer folded.   If anyone knows how to prevent malware from attacking their site, it's BamaJim and BugBatter.

I'm assuming the decision was economic:   maintaining and running a website is NOT free.   While SpwareHammer accepted donations, I take for granted much of the expense to register the site was paid-for by individuals (such as BamaJim).   If he was no longer in a position to fund the site... or if, due to lack of interest by the public, he felt the site was no longer needed... it was his call to "pull the plug".

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"No one mentioned Cross-Site Scripting as the reason"

You are correct Neither Did I.

I agree with the Economic angle but XSS Drive by download is alive and well since Windows 98SE.  Its also why windows defender updates definitions KB2267602 every few hours per day every day 365.  This is a losing battle.  Whack a mole every 8 hours or less is not working.

MSIL:Ainslot-F is a trojan that comes hidden in malicious programs. Once you install the source (carrier) program, this trojan attempts to gain "root" access (administrator level access) to your computer without your knowledge. Trojans like MSIL:Ainslot-F are difficult to detect because they hide themselves aka Rootkit or on recovery partition to become invisible.

This is why you should NEVER GO to an https://WWW.NNN.ZZZ site to find a solution.  These hackers are trying to gain access to your account as well as inject malware.  The problem has expanded to encompass other modes of code injection, including persistent and non-JavaScript vectors (including ActiveX, Java, VBScript, Flash, or even HTML scripts).

Seemingly harmless site causes harm in the background

The latest security intelligence update is:

https://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/definitions/adl.aspx

Windows 2000  (2000)

XP                        (2002)

Vista                    (2007)

7                           (2009)

8                           (2012)

10                        (2015)

https://securingtomorrow.mcafee.com/consumer/family-safety/drive-by-download/

This is a VERY OLD video and yet nothing has changed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtos6ZSkzzM

Spyware hammer has been shut down due to economic reasons(It costs too much to share time and a website).

The growth over several years of XSS malware have contributed to this in particular.   If you disagree feel free to provide reasoning as to why this is not the case.

http://eval.symantec.com/mktginfo/enterprise/white_papers/b-whitepaper_exec_summary_internet_security_threat_report_xiii_04-2008.en-us.pdf

Even Microsoft is throwing in the towel as far as Edge because they cant keep up.  Windows Media player,  Windows Live 2012, and other extensions and codecs are basically end of life.  DOTNET has not left so it must be continually patched.

The "NEW" Microsoft browser will be based on chrome. Microsoft will move away from Edge HTML, instead pivoting to a Chromium-based browser Code-named Anaheim.

One of the things that both Chrome and Firefox Did was to remove compatibility with NPAPI and Flash and Java and codecs like Silverlight.

https://www.java.com/en/download/faq/chrome.xml

Adobe has announced that they will be retiring their Adobe Flash player plugins in 2020. They have said that new standards of the web like HTML5 and WebGL have now matured enough and are able to provide most of the capabilities and functionalities that Adobe Flash plugins provided. Adobe has announced that they will stop updating and distributing the Flash Player at the end of 2020.

One of the reasons bad actors post XSS links here is that the site depends heavily on Flash and Java.

This topic seems to have wandered way off topic. Perhaps the moderators will address that.

Regarding the decision to close SpywareHammer:

1. SpywareHammer was founded in the days of Windows XP when consumers were being bombarded by adware and other types of malware. We worked one-on-one with consumers to clean that malware. Ten years ago we had so many applicants to our training program that we had to turn some people away. Newer operating systems, browsers, and security software have progressed to do a good job handling malware these days.  Along with that, we noticed that users of Windows systems have become more educated and more confident.

2. It was our policy from Day One not to use ads or sell anything on the site. It was financed by donations and by the owner. It was no longer feasible to keep the site open.

3. SpywareHammer will continue to maintain Facebook and Twitter accounts in order to share and comment on tech and security news. Please follow those accounts.

  An admin/mod can delete this...