Full Disclosure mailing list archives
Re: Origin of the term "driveby download"
From: madsaxon <madsaxon () direcway com>
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 10:28:14 -0600
At 04:29 PM 1/31/03 +0100, Thor Larholm wrote:
Because of this FUD term, articles such as http://wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57467,00.html has sentences like this: "And the toolbar will install itself automatically when Internet Explorer's security settings aren't set to the highest level." As we all know (if you didn't know, then now you do), signed ActiveX components require explicit user consent before installing - on anything except the very MINIMUM security settings. The default settings, heck even lowered settings above the minimum (there are 4 default levels of settings), will ask for explicit consent.
I haven't tried to verify this myself, but some folks over on Slashdot are claiming that
earlier versions of IE bundled with 98 and ME are vulnerable to downloadswithout user intervention. I don't use IE for anything, so I haven't really followed its
tortuous bug trail very closely. There have also been some people who claimthat they've visited sites that gave them a "Xupiter plugin is necessary to view this site"
message. Of course, updating your browser and refusing to download plugins whose function you aren't sure of would obviate these issues, but we all know that some people are less likely to take these steps than others, for a variety of reasons. Calling them "stupid" may make us feel superior, but it doesn't make any progress toward solving the problem. When stupid people download malicious code that gums up the Internet, we all suffer. Overall, I can't help but think that Xupiter is sleaze at its worst. m5x _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html
Current thread:
- Question about the new Xupiter toolbar Richard M. Smith (Jan 30)
- Re: Question about the new Xupiter toolbar Brian McWilliams (Jan 30)
- Re: Question about the new Xupiter toolbar Thor Larholm (Jan 31)
- Origin of the term "driveby download" Richard M. Smith (Jan 31)
- Re: Origin of the term "driveby download" Brian McWilliams (Jan 31)
- RE: Re: Origin of the term "driveby download" Geo (Jan 31)
- RE: Re: Origin of the term "driveby download" Brian McWilliams (Jan 31)
- RE: Origin of the term "driveby download" Richard M. Smith (Jan 31)
- Origin of the term "driveby download" Richard M. Smith (Jan 31)
- Re: Origin of the term "driveby download" Thor Larholm (Jan 31)
- Re: Origin of the term "driveby download" madsaxon (Jan 31)
- RE: Origin of the term "driveby download" Richard M. Smith (Jan 31)
- RE: Question about the new Xupiter toolbar Richard M. Smith (Jan 31)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Question about the new Xupiter toolbar xss-is-lame (Jan 30)