4 ms·

Helpsmith landing page tries to download 18 MB .exe to your comp

4 points by ripberge 14y ago

shanelja 14y ago
Except that helpsmith.com would surely be the landing page? It might be against most online protocols to instigate a download, but to be fair to them, that's the download page for helpsmith. In any case, I don't appreciate it, if I was on my wireless dongle, that would have been expensive data loss for me, might be worth shooting them an email to let them know.
lutusp 14y ago
Given the headline and the warning, why in the world would you link to the offending site?
cnvogel 14y ago
It seems to be the download of their product (same URL as referred to on the download button, but as a <meta> refresh, 5 seconds). Highly unusual to trigger the download immediately, but at first glance seems to be innocuous. https://www.virustotal.com/en/url/62ffa4af2b77fb35edfcce944a9a81a52f2ca9ac6e4cf0baf6a93f7a71aa9687/analysis/ https://www.virustotal.com/en/url/62ffa4af2b77fb35edfcce944a... (click on downloaded file analysis, two hits are refering to a generic executable compression “PAK_GENERIC.009”)
ripberge 14y ago
Update: A little clarification. I got to this page by clicking on a Google Adwords ad for Helpsmith. The crazy thing is--when using Chrome I was not even prompted about whether or not I wanted to download--it just started saving to disk. When using IE or Firefox I was prompted and was able to decline. I'm sure this file is indeed innocuous. However, it seems like a pretty slimeball move on their part.
- lutusp 14y ago
  > The crazy thing is--when using Chrome I was not even prompted about whether or not I wanted to download--it just started saving to disk. So change your security settings. With default settings, Chrome always prompts for authorization before downloading an executable. But I agree this is incredibly sleazy behavior on their part.
jbrooksuk 14y ago
Wow, that's crazy, I didn't even have to accept the download, it must think I instated it as if I pressed Save on it. Bad, bad, bad practise.

4 points by ripberge 14y ago

Except that helpsmith.com would surely be the landing page? It might be against most online protocols to instigate a download, but to be fair to them, that's the download page for helpsmith. In any case, I don't appreciate it, if I was on my wireless dongle, that would have been expensive data loss for me, might be worth shooting them an email to let them know.

lutusp 14y ago

Given the headline and the warning, why in the world would you link to the offending site?

cnvogel 14y ago

It seems to be the download of their product (same URL as referred to on the download button, but as a <meta> refresh, 5 seconds). Highly unusual to trigger the download immediately, but at first glance seems to be innocuous. https://www.virustotal.com/en/url/62ffa4af2b77fb35edfcce944a9a81a52f2ca9ac6e4cf0baf6a93f7a71aa9687/analysis/ https://www.virustotal.com/en/url/62ffa4af2b77fb35edfcce944a... (click on downloaded file analysis, two hits are refering to a generic executable compression “PAK_GENERIC.009”)

ripberge 14y ago

Update: A little clarification. I got to this page by clicking on a Google Adwords ad for Helpsmith. The crazy thing is--when using Chrome I was not even prompted about whether or not I wanted to download--it just started saving to disk. When using IE or Firefox I was prompted and was able to decline. I'm sure this file is indeed innocuous. However, it seems like a pretty slimeball move on their part.

lutusp 14y ago
> The crazy thing is--when using Chrome I was not even prompted about whether or not I wanted to download--it just started saving to disk. So change your security settings. With default settings, Chrome always prompts for authorization before downloading an executable. But I agree this is incredibly sleazy behavior on their part.

jbrooksuk 14y ago

Wow, that's crazy, I didn't even have to accept the download, it must think I instated it as if I pressed Save on it. Bad, bad, bad practise.