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Any website can deliver malware at any point. Should we report them all? If we start predicting that they will, we've turned the internet into minority report.

Any website can deliver malware at any point. Should we report them all? If we start predicting that they will, we've turned the internet into minority report. Just because people are jerks and making money off deceptive ads doesn't specifically mean they're going to start serving malware.. it just means they're jerks.

earthnail 3y ago
No, but in this instance it’s so clearly targeted at a particular program that it really starts becoming dangerous for the makers of said program. Not all third party download sites are evil. But this one is in the veru dark gray area. It is correct to report it now as a threat before something bad actually happens.
- danpalmer 3y ago
  Report it as what, and to who? If you report it as distributing malware when it doesn't it's just crying wolf, and will only take up time from actual malware reporting, or make this less likely to be classed as malware in the future if/when it does distribute it. Reporting it as trademark infringement to the hosting provider under the DMCA is most likely the best course of action, the one most likely to lead to a take down. That's assuming there's a trademark on Notepad++.
PurpleRamen 3y ago
It's a matter of probability. It's unlikely that an original project will start becoming abusive on its own, especially if it has a long history of trust. Someone unrelated, who is just high jacking other's fame and has built no trust on its own? More likely. And if it's just a throwaway ad-farm that was set up once, it's likely not receive much care. So there is a higher chance that a hack of the site will go under for a long time, or that the owner will just sell it at some point to a malicious actor. Anyone being long on the internet has seen such things happen more than enough, so many people have a legitimated lack of trust against those sites.

earthnail 3y ago

No, but in this instance it’s so clearly targeted at a particular program that it really starts becoming dangerous for the makers of said program. Not all third party download sites are evil. But this one is in the veru dark gray area. It is correct to report it now as a threat before something bad actually happens.

danpalmer 3y ago
Report it as what, and to who? If you report it as distributing malware when it doesn't it's just crying wolf, and will only take up time from actual malware reporting, or make this less likely to be classed as malware in the future if/when it does distribute it. Reporting it as trademark infringement to the hosting provider under the DMCA is most likely the best course of action, the one most likely to lead to a take down. That's assuming there's a trademark on Notepad++.

PurpleRamen 3y ago

It's a matter of probability. It's unlikely that an original project will start becoming abusive on its own, especially if it has a long history of trust. Someone unrelated, who is just high jacking other's fame and has built no trust on its own? More likely. And if it's just a throwaway ad-farm that was set up once, it's likely not receive much care. So there is a higher chance that a hack of the site will go under for a long time, or that the owner will just sell it at some point to a malicious actor. Anyone being long on the internet has seen such things happen more than enough, so many people have a legitimated lack of trust against those sites.