The Security Mentor

"Booby trap" might be exactly the right word for "Browsezilla", a web browser that's supposed to protect your privacy by not storing records of your online activities, but which spends its spare time going to porn sites and clicking on ads (many advertisers pay per click: software that clicks automatically is a common kind of fraud).

Of course, if you try this at work, your employer's monitoring software will see lots of access to "adult" content from your computer. Bad news.

So how do you tell it from Mozilla, a reputable and secure free product? "Browsezilla" sure sounds like a specialized version of Mozilla.

It's not a sure thing, but you can get clues from where you found a program and who's pushing it. If you heard about it in spam, it's a scam. If it's on a shady web site, don't download it. The download page for Browsezilla has hardcore porn links. You can try waiting for favorable reviews in the press or you can check sites like spywarewarrior.com to see if it's a known piece of malware.

Oh, just to be fair, here's the denial from Browsezilla:

"Thanks for references. There the full delirium is written. Yes, Browsezilla has unchangeable starting page http://browsezilla.org on which there is an advertising. It is More than anything. We shall contact manufacturers anti-virus ON for finding-out,"

Credits:
Initial report, Panda Software
Publication, Network World reporter Robert McMillan

UPDATE 6/24/2006:

Spyware is being given away in churches.