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| Sanford Wallace claims he has done nothing
wrong. |
The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has accused
companies owned by self-styled former "Spam King" Sanford Wallace
of infecting computers with spyware, and then trying to sell
affected victims the remedy.
According to the FTC, computers were infected by a piece of
software which caused PCs to display a myriad of pop-up
advertisements, and compelled consumers to pay $30 for purported
fixes known as "Spy Wiper" or "Spy Deleter".
It is alleged that software installed itself onto the computers
of innocent users without their permission, slowing down PCs and
opening their CD trays.
The FTC has requested a temporary restraining order from the US
District Court for the District of New Hampshire against Seismic
Entertainment Productions, Smartbot.Net, and their owner Sanford
Wallace.
"Consumers have enough on their plate dealing with the more
unpleasant aspects of internet browsing without having to deal with
companies allegedly drumming up trade via this route," said Graham
Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Just as
legitimate anti-virus companies would never write or spread a
virus, so those who defend against spyware should never add to the
problem of malicious code. Any company which is engaged in this
kind of practise is operating at the level of the gutter."
In the past Wallace has been nicknamed "Spamford" by some
members of the anti-spam community because of his notoriety for
sending junk email during the 1990s.
Wallace denies he has done anything wrong, and claimed he is
being used as a scapegoat by the authorities.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.