Very nice analysis Eric.

The thing that perplexes me is that 180 is writing checks to these guys. They cannot claim ingorance of their identities. Part of their affiliate signup process, including the signing of an AUP should include a registration of a URL that will be used to download software. Then 180 can check the URL periodically for conformance with their AUP.

Maybe Ben should just get in league with law enforcement and give 180 legal headaches that will keep them so busy they cannot issue press releases so often.
Richard Stiennon | Homepage | 02.25.06 - 12:06 am | #

Nice analysis. But you seem to be saying something else, without coming out directly -- do you believe that 180 had been aware of another rogue distributor, but took no action until Mr. Edelman made his revelation?
Brian | 02.26.06 - 10:32 am | #

Brian:

No, it appears that 180 wasn't even aware of the second perpetrator (the one Ben Edelman discovered) until Ben published his report and video. After looking at the video, 180 came to realize that there was someone else out there running exploits that installed Zango software beyond the perpetrator that they had already discovered.

Eric L. Howes
Director of Malware Research
Sunbelt Software
Eric L. Howes | Homepage | 02.27.06 - 1:09 pm | #