Sunbelt Software announces Septemberıs Top Ten spyware threats
Monday, 10 October 2005 13:11 EST



Live stats from leading security solution provider show ISTbar as last month's most prevalent threat

Worcester, UK, 10th October 2005 ­ Sunbelt System Software, the leading provider of Windows system administration tools and enterprise security solutions, today announced the top ten most prevalent spyware threats for the month of September. The results are based on the 171,720 scans performed by Sunbelt's award-winning anti-spyware solutions CounterSpy and CounterSpy Enterprise.

"Recognising these varied threats is the first step for a user to take in combating them,² said Ian Masters, sales director at Sunbelt Software. ³We aim to give both consumers and businesses the knowledge and tools they need to ensure online security. The prevalence of ISTbar, a toolbar used for searching pornographic websites that may display pornographic pop-ups and hijack user homepages and internet searches, is particularly worrying."

The top ten most prevalent spyware threats are:

IST.ISTbar ­ 13,899 found ­ 9%
Claria.DashBar ­ 11,716 found ­ 7%
AvenueMedia.DyFuCA ­ 11,620 found ­ 7%
ABetterInternet ­ 8,419 found ­ 5%
IST.SlotchBar ­ 8,398 found ­ 5%
iSearch.DesktopSearch ­ 7,801 found ­ 5%
ABetterInternet.Aurora ­ 7,228 found ­ 5%
WebSearch Toolbar ­ 6,948 found ­ 5%
IST.SideFind ­ 6,566 found ­ 4%
180search Assistant ­ 5,811 found ­ 4%

IST.ISTbar ­ ISTbar is an Internet Explorer Hijacker, which modifies your homepages and searches without a user's consent using an Internet Explorer toolbar. ISTbar is usually installed by ActiveX drive-by download on ISTbar affiliate sites, typically porn sites in the case of the XXXToolbar variant. The ISTbar downloader is very forceful in persuading the user to install itself, if you refuse the download, a JavaScript alert complains that it won't take no for an answer and opens the download window again. ISTbar also installs other third-party software, which includes advertising.

Claria.DashBar ­ The Dashbar Toolbar changes your browser settings to make Dashbar your default search engine. This means that when you search in the URL Address Bar you will receive Dashbar search results, when you click on the "search" button the browser will open a Dashbar search page, and when you navigate to an internet domain that does not exist, Dashbar will display a page to assist you in finding what you are looking for. DashBar will also change your IE Search Assistant and Auto Search settings.

AvenueMedia.DyFuCa ­ DyFuCA Internet Optimizer is an adware, which also hijacks your browser error page. It opens pop-up windows to display ads from its network sites periodically, also is known to update itself.

ABetterInternet ­ AbetterInternet shows advertisements based on the web pages you view and the web sites you visit. ABetterInternet is a Browser Helper Object that displays advertisements and downloads and installs files.

IST.SlotchBar ­ An adware toolbar program for affiliates to distribute on sites. Affiliates get paid per install of the toolbar. Slotch Bar is part of Integrated Search Technologies Toolbarcash program.

iSearch.DesktopSearch ­ Removes the users access to use Windows Search and replaces it with C:\WINDOWS\isrvs\desktop.exe.

ABetterInternet.Aurora ­ Opens popups on the desktop based on site visit history; may disable or uninstall other software; denies uninstallation.

WebSearch Toolbar ­ WebSearch Toolbar is an Internet Explorer search hijacker. WebSearch Toolbar also known IBIS Toolbar also hijacks Internet Explorer's search URL (CustomizeSearch) to point to res://C:\PROGRA~\Toolbar\toolbar.dll/sa.

IST.SideFind ­ SideFind installs an adware Internet Explorer browser helper object that installs some extra buttons.

180search Assisstant - 180search Assistant logs the web pages you visit, when you visit them and uploads the data to its servers.

To access real time updates to the top ten spyware threats for time periods varying from the past hour to the past month, please visit http://research.sunbelt-software.com/top10/index.cfm.

About CounterSpy
CounterSpy is designed to be a one-stop solution to the spyware problem, with an extensive database of current spyware threats, that aggressively scans, detects, and removes a broad range of adware, spyware and other malware, while providing real-time prevention to reduce the chance of future spyware infections. With the best spyware database in the industry, CounterSpy delivers one of the highest spyware detection rates in the industry and has received the 2005 Best Buy and World Class Awards from PC World, Editorıs Choice Award from Laptop Magazine and a 5-star rating from CNETıs Download.com.

About Sunbelt System Software
Established in 1983, Sunbelt System Software is the first and largest provider of 'best-of-breed' Windows system administration tools and enterprise solutions, supplying the tools necessary to support a Windows 2000/2003 corporate infrastructure. As well as being a software developer Sunbelt has a long history of working in partnership with innovative software developers like NSI. Sunbelt System Software produces and distributes leading edge utilities and provides mainframe quality technical support.