AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

Coolwebsearch - From Browser Hijacker to Identity Thief

For years, a trojan horse program called Coolwebsearch has blighted Windows pc users. If you have had your browser hijacked by a program that proved almost impossible to remove, it was probably coolwebsearch. The program has evolved over time, and according to the link below at extremetech.com, it's gotten so advanced that not only does it hijack your browser, it also can automatically update itself. It can track your keystrokes, and it can search your PC for passwords and personal information. After it gets your information, it sends it to who knows where to be spread to whomever.

The program has evolved so frequently that the creater of a program designed to remove CWS has given up in his attempts to track CWS mutations.

It seems to me that if government officials put in some effort, they could attack this thing and break up the racket that feeds on the information that CWS generates. This is even a matter of national security. First, the stolen IDs can be used to hide terrorists' identities. Secondly, this scumware program could hijack a government pc just as easily as a home pc.

The best way to remove CWS is to install virus and spyware filters on your computer, install all of Microsoft's patches. Whereever possible, don't use MS Internet Explorer as your browser. If you use a Mac or a Linux machine, you don't have to worry about CWS at all.


Spyware Researchers Discover ID Theft Ring

Here are a couple more links to sites with information on coolwebsearch:

http://www.scumware.com/apps/scumware.php/action::view_article/article_id::1075329940/topic::Scumware,-Spyware,-Adware-&-Malware-Applications/9016

http://www.webroot.com/resources/spywareinfo/threats.html