shivers
03-07-2006, 05:59 PM
I subscribe to Ray Kurzweil's (futurist guru) free newsletter and in today's edition he posted info that lead to this article:
NewScientist.com news service
Will Knight
Web users make a billion visits every month to websites of dubious character, according to a survey enabled by "web crawling" software developed by researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US.
The survey, carried out over the last 11 months, found that 5% of all internet traffic was linked to sites that upload unwanted software to a PC, send out spam or attempt to trick users into handing over sensitive information.
The web-crawling software is operated by SiteAdvisor, a company spun-off by computer security researchers from MIT. The company has also launched a web browser add-on that automatically checks the reputation of a site against its database and which can be downloaded as a free trial.
The crawling software autonomously checks millions of web pages, file downloads and email registration forms. It visited 95% of all the sites on the internet during the survey.
The program detects whether a downloaded file will attempt to install unwelcome software to disobediently display pop adverts or "hijack" a web browser so that it favours certain web sites. It also determines whether an email form will be used to harvest addresses for spammers, or whether a site may try to trick visitors into handing over personal information, such as their credit card details.
So...I downloaded the program from here:
http://www.siteadvisor.com/preview/
It's a snap! About 2 minutes from start to finish and you don't need to Restart your computer. With IE it runs in the upper righthand corner of your screen and you can refer to it as you choose.
Great stuff!
NewScientist.com news service
Will Knight
Web users make a billion visits every month to websites of dubious character, according to a survey enabled by "web crawling" software developed by researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US.
The survey, carried out over the last 11 months, found that 5% of all internet traffic was linked to sites that upload unwanted software to a PC, send out spam or attempt to trick users into handing over sensitive information.
The web-crawling software is operated by SiteAdvisor, a company spun-off by computer security researchers from MIT. The company has also launched a web browser add-on that automatically checks the reputation of a site against its database and which can be downloaded as a free trial.
The crawling software autonomously checks millions of web pages, file downloads and email registration forms. It visited 95% of all the sites on the internet during the survey.
The program detects whether a downloaded file will attempt to install unwelcome software to disobediently display pop adverts or "hijack" a web browser so that it favours certain web sites. It also determines whether an email form will be used to harvest addresses for spammers, or whether a site may try to trick visitors into handing over personal information, such as their credit card details.
So...I downloaded the program from here:
http://www.siteadvisor.com/preview/
It's a snap! About 2 minutes from start to finish and you don't need to Restart your computer. With IE it runs in the upper righthand corner of your screen and you can refer to it as you choose.
Great stuff!