Miranda Flanders, a New Hampshire business owner, spent 100 hours removing spyware called Medaddle that slowed her PC and blocked internet access. Security expert Robert Siciliano explains how spyware tracks websites, logs keystrokes, and sells data to hackers. The investigation traces the software to Michael Katz and his Boston companies, which deny wrongdoing.
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Pop-up ads are everywhere, clogging up your computer. Where are they all coming from? You could have downloaded a spyware program that's tracking your internet activity for advertisers.
I was getting ads all the time.
Fox Undercover investigates.
Are you hijacking people's computers?
Who's responsible and how to stop pop-up ads. Tonight after The Simpsons on Fox 25 News at 10.
It's called spyware. Once you've got it, it bombards you with pop-up ads and you can even put your personal information at risk.
Fox Undercover's Mike Bodette investigates investigates who's responsible and tells you how to protect your computer.
They're invasive programs installed on your computer without your knowledge. Spyware is the latest problem plaguing internet users. Even Microsoft's own Bill Gates admits he's been a victim. We tracked down the local man behind a spyware company who's accused of hijacking people's computers.
Another ad would come up. Or another ad would come up. So then you were clicking all windows to shut this and get there, and after a while you're just like, "Okay, I'm done." Miranda Flanders runs an internet-based business from her home in Nashua, New Hampshire.
It nearly ground to a halt when her computer became infected with what she says is a nasty spyware program called Medaddle.
It just started happening more and more. All of a sudden my computer just started slowing down. I couldn't really use my regular programs, and on top of that I couldn't use the internet.
Spyware is the biggest problem that computer users have faced in the past decade.
Robert Siciliano is a personal security expert. He says many spyware programs are like viruses installed on your computer without your permission. They track your every move, every website you visit, and use it to bombard you with advertising. He says the worst spyware can record all your personal data by logging your keystrokes when you type in account numbers and passwords.
All this data is sent out to hackers and spammers and also advertisers and marketers. What happens is these spyware programs multiply like rabbits, and then they send out this data to the internet, and they incorporate more spyware into your PC, and it essentially overwhelms your desktop.
Flanders estimates she spent 100 hours trying to remove Medaddle from her computer.
How frustrating was this?
Annoying to the part— to the point that I became very colorful with my language when it came to talking to my computer. This is my job. You know, I need the computer, I need the internet, and without those two things, I might as well just, you know, hang up my hat and call it a day.
And Flanders is not alone. We found dozens of people on the internet complaining about Madatl. One person called it their worst internet nightmare. Most had no idea how Madatl got on their computer.
It's just like being stuck on a rotary. You know, you're trying to get off, you just keep going around and around and around, and I was just It was getting to the point where I was getting headaches just because I was getting so stressed out.
Fox Undercover tracked down the company that caused Miranda Flanders so much grief. It's a Massachusetts corporation which recently relocated here to South Florida. The managing partner, a Massachusetts native, agreed to sit down with us.
Well, we're an advertising network.
26-year-old Michael Katz incorporated two software companies in Boston, Medatto and Wild Media. But last year he moved his operation into this office building in Boca Raton. He doesn't like the term spyware. He prefers adware.
I think that someone defined as adware is someone who does things by the book, provides the user with a clear and defined opt-in process.
People say your company is making their lives miserable.
Uh, you know, the only thing I can say to that is we take every approach to stay above board, to do everything by the book. If you have someone, and I've seen the websites too, who is extremely angry, all they need to do is contact us, reach out to us, we'll help them uninstall.
Katz claims users know what they're getting when they sign up for his service. Advertisements match to their internet habits.
We're able to see where they go on the internet, what sites they're on, and that's where it ends. We don't track any information past that.
Are you hijacking people's computers?
Absolutely not. Never. Never have, never will.
But we found evidence that Katz's company, Wild Media, has released programs that security experts say do just that: hijack people's computers. One of those programs, Netsprite.com, takes control of your homepage and litters your screen with pop-up ads. We also asked Katz about his business partners, Brandon Gutman and Dan Houston.
Dan Houston is— he's not a business partner of mine. I mean, I know who my business partners are. And Dan Houston's not one of them.
Actually, he is one of Katz's business partners. We showed him incorporation papers that list Houston, Gutman, and Katz as founding members of Wild Media. Katz's partners were behind another spyware company called PSD Tools in Cambridge. That company wreaked havoc on thousands of America Online users last year with what a company official called a particularly slimy piece of adware. Forcing AOL lawyers to send the company a cease and desist letter. Siciliano says many spyware companies have one objective.
Their motivation is to make a name for themselves and to pave a way to get to the point where corporate America and advertisers will start to pay attention to them. They're trying to sell themselves.
So it's all about money?
It's all about money.
We showed Flanders our interview with Katz when he claims people can easily remove the Medaddle software from their computers.
If we were to trick people and make our product not easy to remove, We wouldn't have such an easy uninstall process, and we wouldn't clearly label all our ads. So you got it all wrong about these guys.
Oh yeah, sure, I got it all wrong. Their uninstall doesn't work. I don't care what he says, it doesn't work.
People will concoct things to make the problem seem worse and maybe even gain some sympathy.
Absolutely ridiculous. Then you explain to me how that stupid file keeps coming back after I follow your specific instructions to get the stupid thing off there. Seriously, what world— what planet does he live on?
There are some things you can do to protect your computer. Before you download anything from the internet, make sure you read the fine print. You could be agreeing to install spyware. There are free programs available which allow you to scan your computer and delete spyware. To find out how to get them, go to our website at fox25.com and click on Fox Undercover.
