eBay 3rd party software provider Auctiva tagged as attack site by Google
Auctiva the 3rd party eBay software company which provides picture
hosting, templates and other services for about 20% of eBay users, is
being flagged by Google on browsers of users who have security
preferenced on the Firefox and Google Chrome browsers. IE doesn't seem
to be an issue.
Here is the content of the warning that pops up:
Reported Attack Site!
This web site at auctiva.com has been reported as an attack site and has been blocked based on your security preferences.
Attack sites try to install programs that steal private information, use your computer to attack others, or damage your system.
Some
attack sites intentionally distribute harmful software, but many are
compromised without the knowledge or permission of their owners.
There are two button options when this warning post up. The first is "Get me out of here" and "why was this site blocked?"
When the "why was this site blocked?" option is selected here is what pops up.
Safe Browsing
Diagnostic page for auctiva.com
What is the current listing status for auctiva.com?
Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this web site may harm your computer.
Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 2 time(s) over the past 90 days.
What happened when Google visited this site?
Of
the 49 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 5 page(s)
resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without
user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2009-02-21,
and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on
2009-02-21.Malicious software includes 9 scripting exploit(s), 7
trojan(s). Successful infection resulted in an average of 9 new
processes on the target machine.
Malicious software is hosted on 2 domain(s), including luckffxi.com/, auctlva.com/.
1 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including me9x.cn/.
This site was hosted on 4 network(s) including AS174 (COGENT), AS16509 (AMAZON), AS14744 (INTERNAP).
Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?
Over the past 90 days, auctiva.com appeared to function as an intermediary for the infection of 1 site(s) including octiva.com/.
Has this site hosted malware?
No, this site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days.
How did this happen?
In some cases, third parties can add malicious code to legitimate sites, which would cause us to show the warning message.
Next steps:
On eBays' forum boards, the answer Auctiva has given so far is this:
> Auctiva NEWS says:
> Update - If you are using the Firefox browser and are unable to
use your account because you are receiving a warning stating the
Auctiva is an "attack site", you should be able to workaround it by
selecting "Options" from the "Tools" menu and disabling the "tell me if
the site I’m visiting is a suspected attack site" setting under the
"Security" tab.
>
> We have removed what was causing
that warning to be displayed from our systems but that warning is still
showing up because we need to be rescanned by Google, which we are
going to do as soon as we finish up the work we're doing.
>
> If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our
customer support team using the web form on the following page of our
site: Link. I'll post further updates to this thread as additional information becomes available.
,
It's no surprise that this response has angered a lot of people in the
community. To suggest the users turn off their browser's security
settings seems irresponsible. Even if the Auctiva software is safe to
run, what about the other Trojans, viruses, and malware you are
blocking with those settings.
My advice, DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR
BROWSERS' security settings. This is a bump on the nose of Auctiva, a
company who has up until now, provided some excellent applications.
Auctiva is trying to become a player in the online selling marketplace
by providing it's own online store. The online merchants in my circles
are watching this VERY close.
This is the Internet, glitches
happen, no one can fault Auctiva for that, but how the company handles
it's problems can and should be judged by the community.
Let's give them a chance before we start beating down the door.
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Online merchant and podcaster John Lawson has been covering the story at ColderIce.com
. You'll want to read that post for further details, and because John
puts a fresh and entertaining spin on all of his ecommerce stories.
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Topics:
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online marketing ,
auctiva ,
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