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Spyware, viruses, & security forum: My searches end up in spam sites (I NEED HELP URGENTLY)

by: SoGreat April 27, 2008 5:33 AM PDT

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My searches end up in spam sites (I NEED HELP URGENTLY)

by SoGreat - 4/27/08 5:33 AM

I have this problem. I noticed again that one of my search prases I often use has been ended up in spam sites. That search was a very complex phrase in finnish language. The keyphrase hasn't given any google results before, but some days ago when I searched that phrase again (in Live search, in Google it wasn't found) it was on a spam site. I was like, what the hell, aren't searches private? Some other search phrases I've used have also appeared on spam sites.

This kind of page came, when searching with my keyphrase in Live Search:

All the information. Limited offers.
Patrick swayze shes like the wind norton anti viris maximizing volunteer committees how does planting a native specie help the enviroment?? ny giants superbowl sweatshirt furnished ...
* users5.nofeehost.com/sisss/219.htm

That's not the actual page, but the domain and title was the same. But different words in the site, my keyphrase was on the description where I clearly saw it. If you go to that nofeehost.com site, you see it redirects to a adult site.

It's some spam. and the keyphrase I used was there. I know it cannot be coincidence that someone else uses the same search phrase, as it's so complex and everything, plus in finnish language which barely nobody speaks, compared to english.

I feel sick because of this. I've scanned my computer using:

- Panda
- Windows Live Onecare
- Kaspersky
- Spybot S&D
- Spyware Doctor
- Eset
- Symantec
- Ad-aware
- AVG
- SuperAntiSpyware
- Trend Micro
- Prevx Online Scan

But nothing has been found. I've even formatted my C-drive but still the spam problem exists. I've also posted a hijack-this-log on a finnish expert forum and the log was clean. As always.

What the hell should I do. This is just horrible. I want to know why is this happening and fix the problem causing this, if possible.


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Re: spam sites

by Kees Bakker Moderator - 4/27/08 5:46 AM

In Reply to: My searches end up in spam sites (I NEED HELP URGENTLY) by SoGreat

The first thing to do: ascertain if this is or isn't a current problem of your PC. So just execute the same searches using the same search phrase on the same search machine on another PC.
- The most likely thing is it will turn up there also. Then it's not a problem of your PC at the moment, and there's nothing you can do about it. All you can do is to wonder how it came there (if it is there). Or why it appears in Live Search and not in Google. Maybe ask Microsoft?
- If it doesn't turn up anywhere else as on only your PC, it's different, of course. But if it appears after a clean install with formatting, I don't expect that.

Two other questions:
1. What is your definition of "spam sites".
2. What's the use of searching for a very complex Finnish phrase if you know that it doesn't appear anywhere?

Kees


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yea

by SoGreat - 4/27/08 6:47 AM

In Reply to: Re: spam sites by Kees Bakker Moderator

Hi

It's quite unsure to try the same on other computer, as it may be that the phrase never appears, actually very little amount of searchphrases appear. Seems that only some searches make it to the spam sites and it may take weeks them to appear there, and it' would be difficult to monitor if the searches have appeared on spammy sites. But maybe I'll try. I'm bad at explaining. sorry.

1: What I classify as a spam site? Look here: http://www.altavista.com/web/results?itag=ody&q=site%3Atogerno.info&kgs=0&kls=0
So, it's a site which contains loads of keywords and when clicked, it redirects to some adult site which tries to load malware on your computer or the site is full of sponsored ads and the spammers actually gain profit from the advertisements. Look wikipedia for spam.

2: For example searching your own full name (even if it doesn't appear anywhere) to see, if there are any hits. And also some phrases that are spelled accidentaly wrong and thus won't return any results. Well, it doesn't really matter what the phrases are, I've got my reasons for them.

thanks.


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Re: yea

by Kees Bakker Moderator - 4/27/08 7:18 AM

In Reply to: yea by SoGreat

I see what you mean: sites with rather random phrases that are caught by search engines and try to make money by having you click on a link.

There might have been keylogger software or so on your PC that intercepted your search phrase and sent it to the owners of such a site. Or they might have intercepted the traffic on the net or the software on the search engine or they might just have guessed it, although - as you tell it - that's unlikely.

If your machine is clean now, there's nothing more you can do.

Kees


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Wow.

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 4/27/08 8:07 AM

In Reply to: yea by SoGreat

That's one crappy search. I can tell you one thing is that it's not the machine this time.


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Hi, SoGreat

by Bugbatter - 4/27/08 7:46 AM

In Reply to: My searches end up in spam sites (I NEED HELP URGENTLY) by SoGreat

A clean Hijackthis log means pretty much nothing nowadays unless additional diagnostics have ruled out malware.

Did the "finnish expert forum" run any scans for a DNS hijacker? These are often installed as rootkits, so you would need a scanner with rootkit detection capability. If they did not do that, perhaps it would be a good idea to go back to your topic there and ask them to check for that.


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reply

by SoGreat - 4/27/08 8:10 AM

In Reply to: Hi, SoGreat by Bugbatter

Hmmmm.. they said nothing about DNS's. I've tried rootkit scans with spyware doctor etc. But are there better rootkit detectors I could try out? I'm a noob and don't know very much about these.


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blebebdf

by SoGreat - 4/27/08 8:12 AM

In Reply to: Hi, SoGreat by Bugbatter

They didn't mention DNS's.. Is there some powerful tools to check out those possible hijackers?


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--------

by SoGreat - 4/27/08 8:14 AM

In Reply to: Hi, SoGreat by Bugbatter

They didn't mention anything about DNS. Do you know some powerful tools to check those hijackers if theres any?

Btw I am using Windows XP


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This is not a hijack.

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 4/27/08 8:19 AM

In Reply to: -------- by SoGreat

Sorry, it's just how that search works. DO NOT FIX YOUR PC!


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SoGreat

by Bugbatter - 4/27/08 12:06 PM

In Reply to: -------- by SoGreat

Until your helper on the Finnish HijackThis forum can verify that you have a DNS hijacker, I suggest that you do not do attempt any cleaning. One phrase in a search that gives strange results does not mean that you have a hijacker. If you are having this happen repeatedly with different phrases, then you can be concerned. Make sure those phrases are not typos or obscure foreign words that the search engine may not recognize.
CNET does not analyze HijackThis logs.


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