A spyware mystery: Who's behind it?
 

NEW YORK (AP) -- In less than two years, CoolWebSearch has become the bane of the computing industry.

Its programmers have managed to reset Web browsers so that searches get rerouted to the CoolWeb search engine. And any time anti-spyware engineers find a way to stop the hijacking, a new variant pops up, sneakier than its predecessor. There are now dozens.

"It's a cat-and-mouse game almost," said Tim Bryan, an InterMute Inc. software developer in charge of fighting CoolWebSearch.

There are less pernicious forms of spyware, of course. And there is what's more properly termed adware because many such programs don't actually harvest data from users. Adware is often produced by larger companies, one of which even briefly planned an initial public offering.

CoolWebSearch and its ilk are what's most troublesome because they are so stealthy. Investigators are apparently stymied. In its anti-spyware efforts, the Federal Trade Commission has so far managed to file only one lawsuit -- against an American, and in a case unconnected to CoolWeb.

The CoolWeb network, anyway, seems to be foreign. Its domain name is registered to a post office box in the British Virgin Islands and its owner listed as InterWeb Solutions Inc. However, a Web hosting company in Buffalo, New York, that goes by that name said it had no ties whatsoever.

"They stole our name and are dragging our business down," InterWeb owner Marta Clark said. "We don't even know who these guys are."

Efforts to reach CoolWeb officials by phone and e-mail were unavailing.

CoolWeb appears to make money from Web sites that pay to get listed, sites with such names as "Knock Out Debt." Affiliates, registered in Belarus, Russia and other countries, get a 50 percent commission for referring traffic to the search engine.

Other spyware developers have similar arrangements -- they may pay affiliates a nickel or even a dollar for every software installation, said Dave Methvin, chief technology officer at PC Pitstop, a computer diagnostic site.

"These guys install (spyware) on tens of millions of systems," he said. "The nickels start to add up."

On its Web site, CoolWebSearch denies creating the tools that hijack the computers of the unwitting, shifting blame to affiliates. It claims it does not condone such activity yet its posted terms with affiliates do not bar the practice.


http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/interne....ap/index.html

interesting...........

LOL I remember getting coolwebsearch as my homepage ages ago
then getting a few checks from them :) :)