StopBadware

Last updated
StopBadware
Founded2006
Founder John Palfrey, Jonathan Zittrain
Dissolved2020
Type 501(c)(3)
Location
Key people
 Vint Cerf, Esther Dyson
Website www.stopbadware.org [ dead link ]

StopBadware was [1] an anti-malware nonprofit organization focused on making the Web safer through the prevention, mitigation, and remediation of badware websites. It is the successor to StopBadware.org, a project started in 2006 at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. It spun off to become a standalone organization, and dropped the ".org" in its name, in January 2010. [2]

Contents

Its website stopped working around 2021 because of copyright restrictions. [1]

People

The founders of StopBadware.org were John Palfrey, then Executive Director of the Berkman Center, and Jonathan Zittrain, then at the Oxford Internet Institute. [3] Both are now Professors of Law at Harvard University and faculty co-directors of the Berkman Center.

Board members of StopBadware include Vint Cerf (Chair), Esther Dyson, Philippe Courtot, Alex Eckelberry, Michael Barrett, Brett McDowell, Eric Davis, and Maxim Weinstein, StopBadware's former executive director. [4] John Palfrey, Ari Schwartz, John Morris, Paul Mockapetris, and Mike Shaver formerly served on the Board.

Supporters

StopBadware was funded by corporate and individual donations. Some of its current partners include Google, Mozilla, PayPal, Qualys, Verisign, Verizon, and Yandex. [5] Google, GFI Software, and NSFocus participate as data providers in the organization's Badware Website Clearinghouse (see below). Previous supporters include AOL, Lenovo, Sun Microsystems, Trend Micro, and MySpace. Consumer Reports WebWatch, a now-defunct part of Consumers Union, served as an unpaid special advisor while StopBadware.org was a project at the Berkman Center.

Activities

StopBadware's focus was on fighting "badware by working to strengthen the entire Web ecosystem." In pursuit of this some of the organization's activities include maintaining a badware website clearinghouse, acting as an independent reviewer of blacklisted sites, website owner and user education, and a "We Stop Badware" program for Web hosts. [6] In June 2012 StopBadware launched the Ads Integrity Alliance with support from founding members AOL, Facebook, Google, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and Twitter. The Alliance is a resource for online ad platforms seeking to protect users from deceptive or harmful ads. [7] The organization receives data from its data providers and maintains a searchable clearinghouse (Badware Website Clearinghouse) of URLs blacklisted by those data providers. [8] StopBadware's independent review process gives webmasters the option to request removal from data providers' blacklists and is intended to function as "due process" for webmasters whose sites have been listed as bad. [9] [10] StopBadware maintains a community forum, BadwareBusters.org, [11] which includes an online form for reporting badware URLs encountered by the community.

StopBadware also aggregated badware statistics, [12] advocates for consumer protection in public policy, and publishes advisory documents (software guidelines, [13] best practices for web hosting providers [14] ) compiled with input from the organization's working groups. [15]

Defining "badware"

Originally

StopBadware.org originally, in 2006, defined "badware" as follows:

  1. If the application acts deceptively or irreversibly.
  2. If the application engages in potentially objectionable behavior without:
    • First, prominently disclosing to the user that it will engage in such behavior, in clear and non-technical language, and
    • Then, obtaining the user's affirmative consent to that aspect of the application. [16]

The original mission was to "provide tools and information that assist industry and policymakers in meeting their responsibility to protect users from badware, and that help users protect themselves." [17] StopBadware took the position that software is badware if it does certain prohibited things, despite any disclaimer in an EULA or purported consent by the user. "Silently downloading" and "Installing additional software without informing the user of the identity and purpose of that software (bundling)" are examples of such prohibited behavior. StopBadware investigated reports of improper behavior by programs, and offered vendors the opportunity to reply to their findings.

In the 2010s

StopBadware focused on web-based malware and defined badware as "software that fundamentally disregards a user's choice about how his or her computer or network connection will be used." This includes viruses, Trojans, rootkits, botnets, spyware, scareware, and many other types of malware. A badware website is a website that helps distribute badware, either intentionally or because it has been compromised. [18]

Google and StopBadware

There was a common misconception that StopBadware blacklists websites and that Google uses this blacklist to protect their users. In fact, Google's Safe Browsing initiative uses automated systems to identify and blacklist websites. [19] This blacklist is used by Google to warn users before they visit potentially dangerous sites. The Firefox web browser and other applications also use Google's Safe Browsing API to warn their users based on the same blacklist.

The confusion is likely due to the close relationship between Google and StopBadware. Google links to StopBadware from their interstitial warning pages. [20] The link (now defunct) directed users to StopBadware's educational content about badware; [21] it also pointed webmasters to StopBadware's independent review process so site owners can request removal from Google's blacklist. [9] StopBadware's Badware Website Clearinghouse also listed websites blacklisted by Google.

Google uses automated systems to search for websites that distribute badware, and issues warnings about websites on which malicious activity is detected. [22] When a user tries to access one of these sites, that user is redirected to an interstitial page wherein Google warns the user of the detected malicious activity. [23] Google attempts to notify site owners when blacklisting a website. [24]

On February 2, 2009, for the duration of approximately one hour, all sites were temporarily listed as "potentially harmful to [ones] computer". [25]

See also

Related Research Articles

An Internet filter is software that restricts or controls the content an Internet user is capable to access, especially when utilized to restrict material delivered over the Internet via the Web, Email, or other means. Content-control software determines what content will be available or be blocked.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spyware</span> Malware that collects and transmits user information without their knowledge

Spyware is software with malicious behaviour that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user by violating their privacy, endangering their device's security, or other means. This behaviour may be present in malware and in legitimate software. Websites may engage in spyware behaviours like web tracking. Hardware devices may also be affected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proxy server</span> Computer server that makes and receives requests on behalf of a user

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Zittrain</span> American law professor (born 1969)

Jonathan L. Zittrain is an American professor of Internet law and the George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School. He is also a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, a professor of computer science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and co-founder and director of Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Previously, Zittrain was Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute of the University of Oxford and visiting professor at the New York University School of Law and Stanford Law School. He is the author of The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It as well as co-editor of the books, Access Denied, Access Controlled, and Access Contested.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AVG AntiVirus</span> Antivirus computer program

AVG AntiVirus is a line of antivirus software developed by AVG Technologies, a subsidiary of Avast, a part of Gen Digital. It is available for Windows, macOS and Android.

Ad blocking or ad filtering is a software capability for blocking or altering online advertising in a web browser, an application or a network. This may be done using browser extensions or other methods.

Internet privacy involves the right or mandate of personal privacy concerning the storage, re-purposing, provision to third parties, and display of information pertaining to oneself via the Internet. Internet privacy is a subset of data privacy. Privacy concerns have been articulated from the beginnings of large-scale computer sharing and especially relate to mass surveillance enabled by the emergence of computer technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VirusTotal</span> Cybersecurity website owned by Chronicle

VirusTotal is a website created by the Spanish security company Hispasec Sistemas. Launched in June 2004, it was acquired by Google in September 2012. The company's ownership switched in January 2018 to Chronicle, a subsidiary of Google.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WOT Services</span> Website reputation service

WOT Services is the developer of MyWOT, an online reputation and Internet safety service which shows indicators of trust about existing websites. The confidence level is based both on user ratings and on third-party malware, phishing, scam and spam blacklists. The service also provides crowdsourced reviews, about to what extent websites are trustworthy, and respect user privacy, vendor reliability and child safety.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blacklist (computing)</span> Criteria to control computer access

In computing, a blacklist, disallowlist, blocklist, or denylist is a basic access control mechanism that allows through all elements, except those explicitly mentioned. Those items on the list are denied access. The opposite is a whitelist, allowlist, or passlist, in which only items on the list are let through whatever gate is being used. A greylist contains items that are temporarily blocked until an additional step is performed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opera (web browser)</span> Freeware web browser

Opera is a multi-platform web browser developed by its namesake company Opera. The browser is based on Chromium. Opera is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. There are also mobile versions called Opera Mobile and Opera Mini. Opera users also have access to Opera News, a news app based on an AI platform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norton Safe Web</span> Software service by Symantec Corporation

Norton Safe Web is a service developed by Symantec Corporation that is designed to help users identify malicious websites. Safe Web delivers information about websites based on automated analysis and user feedback.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malwarebytes</span> Internet security company

Malwarebytes Inc. is an American Internet security company that specializes in protecting home computers, smartphones, and companies from malware and other threats. It has offices in Santa Clara, California; Clearwater, Florida; Tallinn, Estonia; Bastia Umbra, Italy; and Cork, Ireland.

Trusteer is a Boston-based computer security division of IBM, responsible for a suite of security software. Founded by Mickey Boodaei and Rakesh K. Loonkar, in Israel in 2006, Trusteer was acquired in September 2013 by IBM for $1 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comodo Dragon</span> Web browser based on the Chromium web browser

Comodo Dragon is a freeware web browser. It is based on Chromium and is produced by Comodo Group. Sporting a similar interface to Google Chrome, Dragon does not implement Chrome's user tracking and some other potentially privacy-compromising features, replacing them with its own user tracking implementations, and provides additional security measures, such as indicating the authenticity and relative strength of a website's Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate.

Browser security is the application of Internet security to web browsers in order to protect networked data and computer systems from breaches of privacy or malware. Security exploits of browsers often use JavaScript, sometimes with cross-site scripting (XSS) with a secondary payload using Adobe Flash. Security exploits can also take advantage of vulnerabilities that are commonly exploited in all browsers.

SmartScreen is a cloud-based anti-phishing and anti-malware component included in several Microsoft products, including operating systems Windows 8 and later, the applications Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge. SmartScreen intelligence is also used in the backend of Microsoft's online services such as the web app Outlook.com and Microsoft Bing search engine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Safe Browsing</span> Service that warns about malicious URLs

Google Safe Browsing is a service from Google that warns users when they attempt to navigate to a dangerous website or download dangerous files. Safe Browsing also notifies webmasters when their websites are compromised by malicious actors and helps them diagnose and resolve the problem. This protection works across Google products and is claimed to “power safer browsing experiences across the Internet”. It lists URLs for web resources that contain malware or phishing content. Browsers like Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Vivaldi, Brave and GNOME Web use these lists from Google Safe Browsing to check pages against potential threats. Google also provides a public API for the service.

A potentially unwanted program (PUP) or potentially unwanted application (PUA) is software that a user may perceive as unwanted or unnecessary. It is used as a subjective tagging criterion by security and parental control products. Such software may use an implementation that can compromise privacy or weaken the computer's security. Companies often bundle a wanted program download with a wrapper application and may offer to install an unwanted application, and in some cases without providing a clear opt-out method. Antivirus companies define the software bundled as potentially unwanted programs which can include software that displays intrusive advertising (adware), or tracks the user's Internet usage to sell information to advertisers (spyware), injects its own advertising into web pages that a user looks at, or uses premium SMS services to rack up charges for the user. A growing number of open-source software projects have expressed dismay at third-party websites wrapping their downloads with unwanted bundles, without the project's knowledge or consent. Nearly every third-party free download site bundles their downloads with potentially unwanted software. The practice is widely considered unethical because it violates the security interests of users without their informed consent. Some unwanted software bundles install a root certificate on a user's device, which allows hackers to intercept private data such as banking details, without a browser giving security warnings. The United States Department of Homeland Security has advised removing an insecure root certificate, because they make computers vulnerable to serious cyberattacks. Software developers and security experts recommend that people always download the latest version from the official project website, or a trusted package manager or app store.

Tampermonkey is a donationware userscript manager that is available as a browser extension. This software enables the user to add and use userscripts, which are JavaScript programs that can be used to modify web pages.

References

  1. 1 2 "Remove the link to StopBadware.org in SafeBrowsing interstitial page". bugzilla.mozilla.org. 2020-08-06. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
  2. ↑ Miller, Mary Helen (January 28, 2010). "StopBadware Spins Off From Harvard U. to Be a Stand-Alone Nonprofit Group". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  3. ↑ Hines, Matthew (January 30, 2010). "StopBadware Researchers Graduate from Harvard". eWeek Security Watch. Archived from the original on January 28, 2011. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  4. ↑ "Board of Directors". StopBadware. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Supporting Organizations". StopBadware. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  6. ↑ "What We Do". StopBadware. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Ads Integrity Alliance". StopBadware. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Badware Website Clearinghouse". StopBadware. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  9. 1 2 Mills, Elinor (February 2, 2009). "StopBadware.org, the place to appeal a Google malware warning". CNET Security News. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Request a Review". StopBadware. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  11. ↑ "About". BadwareBusters.org. Archived from the original on January 1, 2011. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  12. ↑ "AS Report – Top 50 by Number of Reported URLs". StopBadware. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Guidelines". StopBadware. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Web Hosting Best Practices". StopBadware. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Working Groups". StopBadware. Archived from the original on November 28, 2010. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  16. ↑ "Stop Badware Software Guidelines". April 7, 2006. Archived from the original on April 7, 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  17. ↑ "Main Page". StopBadware. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  18. ↑ "What is Badware". StopBadware. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  19. ↑ Ballard, Lucas (October 12, 2009). "Show Me the Malware!". CNET Security News. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  20. ↑ "What is the Google Safe Browsing Blacklist?". SerpGuard website. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  21. ↑ "Suspicious results and strange behavior: Results labeled 'This site may harm your computer". Google Web Search Help results. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  22. ↑ Provos, Niels; McNamee, Dean; Mavrommatis, Panayiotis; Wang, Ke; Modadugu, Nagendra (April 2007). "The Ghost in the Browser: Analysis of Web-based Malware." (PDF). Encyclopedia of Things. USENIX. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  23. ↑ Gabe, Glenn (April 22, 2009). "Yes, You're An Attack Site That Contains Malware, Now Here's What To Do About It". Search Engine Journal. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  24. ↑ "About malware and hacked sites". Google Webmaster Tools Help results. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  25. ↑ Google warns entire Internet is malware – "For about an hour Saturday morning, Google listed every site on the Internet as potentially harmful to your computer. At first, Google blamed the problem on StopBadware.org but later had to eat crow."
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