Experts predict Firefox spyware will show up this year

Monday, Feb. 7 2005 | Author: Scrivs

I was waiting for an article like this to come for some time now. Basically the premise is that as Firefox gains in popularity the more attention spyware writers will give it. Sounds logical enough. However, unlike IE, Firefox has the ability to churn out a fix in a very short amount of time.

Also since the project is Open Source and anyone can view the code, holes are patched quickly due to the amount of eyes looking at it. Of course having open code might make it faster for the spyware guys to come up with exploits.

Currently Sitepoint is the only site that I know of that is able to bypass the popup blocking in Firefox.

Share and Enjoy

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10 Responses for "Experts predict Firefox spyware will show up this year"

pasta

February 7th, 2005 at 1:49 pm
1

Well, actually there already have been a few reports of spyware for Firefox. However, oddly enough, they infected Internet Explorer with a toolbar. I don’t know what kind of effect it would have on *Nix based systems. :)
B. Adam

February 7th, 2005 at 2:30 pm
2

Sitepoint isn’t really “bypassing” pop-up blockers — they just don’t show you a pop-up until you click the mouse. Which is unabashedly annoying (and against so many of the things they preach about on the site itself) and why I only visit the site via RSS.
Ray

February 7th, 2005 at 4:00 pm
3

Ever visited http://www.drudgereport.com? I’ve used Firefox through the last two or three versions and that site has ALWAYS been able to create a popup. But only once a day. Annoying? You bet…
The Wolf

February 7th, 2005 at 4:15 pm
4

http://www.drudgereport.com doesn’t give me any popup windows…

I’m shocked at sitepoint, what a bunch of wankers!
thyrium

February 7th, 2005 at 4:52 pm
5

OMFG, A POPUP!

It’s really not that fucking bad. It’s not like you get them everyday or anything…

And so what if FireFox get’s bombarded with spyware?

That’s just all the more reason for GOOGLE to create the Best Browser EVER!
Scrivs

February 7th, 2005 at 5:04 pm
6

And what makes you think Google would create a browser from scratch? You don’t think they will use existing technology which could have holes in it to exploit? Please man. I love Google, but I don’t see that much more innovation that can come from browser kingdom. Just show me a page and let me click the links.

And yes bypassing a technologies’ popup blocking scheme is annoying because if one site can do, then every site can do it.
notagain

February 7th, 2005 at 5:39 pm
7

So, where do you get popups on sitepoint??? I’m trying and haven’t found one. How do they come up?

Using firefox 1.0
Scrivs

February 7th, 2005 at 5:43 pm
8

I get it when I click on the forums tab.
Chris G.

February 7th, 2005 at 5:43 pm
9

Actually, I don’t believe Firefox can intentionally get infected by spyware in the way IE normally does.

When you attempt to install an extension into Firefox from any site other then update.mozilla.org, Firefox blocks the installation. The only way to install a blocked XPI is to either 1) manually download it by right-clicking the link and clicking save as… (which only longtime Mozilla users even know you can do) or 2) adding the domain where the XPI is hosted to a whitelist.

This blocks the most common cases of spyware, which pop-up with an ActiveX install dialog when you visit a site. Most users are stupid enough to click ‘Yes’ everytime.

This does not however block a security vulnerbility being taken advantage of and spyware installed via that method. It also doesn’t prevent spyware from being installed by a program you download and install like any exe (common with some games and programs I have noticed).

So in theory, as long as spyware doesn’t get into update.mozilla.org…cases of Firefox spyware shouldn’t be that high…hopefully.

Anyways, IMHO, the only way to take on spyware is to treat them as viruses and get antivirus programs to detect spyware installation just as well as they detect viruses. Right now the spyware detection of antivirus programs is absolutely pathetic…most “protection” from spyware comes from the cleanup afterwards.
notagain

February 9th, 2005 at 12:58 pm
10

Hmm, still not getting the pop-up. Tried browsing around the forums as well. Even tried turning off ad-block to see if that might be it. Still no pop-ups…