RE: browsers and trojan-like behaviour

["Tim Heagarty" <tim () heagarty com>]

This appears to be the known behavior of the free version of Opera as
stated at http://www.opera.com/docs/ads/. And
http://www.opera.com/support/tutorials/security/prefs/ads/index.dml and
this topic is the second paragraph of the Opera  privacy policy at
http://www.opera.com/privacy/.

I don't see where they confirm that the user accepts this privacy policy
or acknowledges that the user knows of the Ad window and how it works.
The acknowldegement could come during the installation of course, but
who reads those silly licenses anyway? 

The number of popups and junk that appear on the SimTel download page
should probably lead one to believe that there is Spyware close at hand.

As Opera.com states it is easy to eliminate this behavior, for only
$39.00, but does that eliminate the communication or just reduce it?

Tim Heagarty CISSP, MCSE
http://www.TheaSecure.com/
"There are only 10 kinds of people in the world, those that understand
binary, and those that don't."
Work: (928) 636-0489
Cell: (928) 533-9690

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bogdan Hamciuc [mailto:hb () p16 pub ro] 
> Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2003 6:48 AM
> To: webappsec () securityfocus com
> Subject: browsers and trojan-like behaviour
>
>
>    Hi,
>
>    I have always been aware that certain applications might 
> develop 'initiatives' such as sending information about the 
> host machine/system to their home sites. Until now, I thought 
> of that as of an abstract thing, but today I accidentally 
> dumped such a 'conversation', started by my 'Opera' browser. 
> Here's an excerpt of what it sent:
>
>
> ------------
>
> POST http://rps2.opera.com/scripts/cms/xrps.asp HTTP/1.0
> User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Linux 2.4.19 
> i686) Opera 6.02  [en]
> Host: rps2.opera.com
>
> [...]
>
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding='ISO-8859-1'?>
> <xacp version="1.0.0">
>    <activity_report vendor="Opera" product="Opera_Linux" 
> product_version="600" distribution="Lin_602"
> user_code="a8c01805104863399445821" tag="0000000   en0731">
> <client_connection last="2003-03-25" units="days" 
> count="1"/><acpo code="3"> <exposure location="top" 
> date="2003-03-25" count="3"/> </acpo> <profile> <property 
> name="Language" val="en"/> </profile> </activity_report></xacp>
>
> --------------
>
>
>    I honestly consider this a trojan-like behaviour, since I 
> have not been asked about it, and I do not expect a web 
> browser to initiate TCP connections on its own.
>
>    The fact that, as stated in their EULA, 'IN NO EVENT SHALL 
> OPERA SOFTWARE [...] BE LIABLE FOR ANY [...] LOSS OF BUSINESS 
> INFORMATION, PERSONAL INJURY, LOSS OF PRIVACY OR OTHER 
> PECUNIARY OR OTHER LOSS
> WHATSOEVER) ARISING OUT OF USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE 
> SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES' 
> does not entitle them to disclose information about my 
> operating system, kernel version or anything else about my 
> machine or myself, as this was the case. The very thought 
> that it could have uploaded any file that I could access concerns me.
>
>    If you don't mind, I would like to read a few other 
> opinions on this issue.
>
>
>
>    Sincerely,
>    Bogdan Hamciuc