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Ask HN: Microsoft SmartScreen is destroying our business

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Re: Ask HN: Microsoft SmartScreen is destroying our business

#91

Post by abpavel »

lucb1e wrote: post #14
jcrawfordor wrote: post #9

Very important that you develop complete confidence that there isn't anything wrong with your product. It's not uncommon, in fact it's very common, for compromise kits for websites to take measures to avoid detection. A common one is only serving the malicious content when a specific referrer is present (I've seen this be Yahoo Search in the case of compromised Drupal installations multiple times, not really sure why…

Should they then not just reply with "You're on the list because of the malware payload at "?

No, because they would cause the following scenario: Malicious attacker looks for exactly what Microsoft detected, and fixes each specific detection while keep operating the undetected ones. The end result would be operational malicious site, without being detected.

Re: Ask HN: Microsoft SmartScreen is destroying our business

#92

Post by MrStonedOne »

freedomben wrote: post #79
nvr219 wrote: post #76

People talking about is it a false flag, real flag... Post your SaaS URL and you'll get a free security assessment from a dozen hners.

That's undoubtedly true, but you'll also get a lot of assholes and script kiddies hoping to pwn your site for lulz, and they often don't care who gets hurt along the way. By posting you've just given them an easy legal defense. If it were me, I wouldn't do it. Not worth the risk. I would however, probably be willing to DM people individually after doing a small amount of due diligence on their comment history. I gues…

No post body was provided.

Re: Ask HN: Microsoft SmartScreen is destroying our business

#93

Post by ascar »

_8j50 wrote: post #72
lucb1e wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I considered that but it didn't seem logical. If it's on purpose, it would be trivial to change the URL and then go "ok it's clean now please remove the flag" How does keeping secret (from the bad guys) where the malware is thwart the bad guys?

MS is already stopping the bad guys by blocking the domain. You are supposed to do proper IR and clean up after yourseld including finding out the cause of the compromise which MS can't help with. What happens in the real world is people delete the file or webshell and think the bad guys are gone and if MS unblocks them then the campaign continues. Or the bad guys themselves do that pretending to be the site owner. M…

What are you even talking about? What is IR?

What happens is a website is blocked and the site operator has no idea why. The defense of "we can't share any information as to why you got punished as it might help bad actors avoid punishment" should not be an acceptable stance. It's the equivalent of being thrown to prison without due process and just ignoring false positives. It's a very "natural" way of acting, but that does not make it the right one.

Re: Ask HN: Microsoft SmartScreen is destroying our business

#94

Post by WesolyKubeczek »

quantified wrote: post #84
schappim wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can, take your business elsewhere…

Who does business with Wells Fargo anymore? [ https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2021/09/28/wells-fa... ]

Stripe very much does.

Re: Ask HN: Microsoft SmartScreen is destroying our business

#95

Post by chunk_waffle »

barneygale wrote: post #83
pmarreck wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am currently in a 3 day Facebook ban because I posted an NIH (National Institute of Health, peak legitimacy right here) link which was meant to help someone understand something. Unfortunately, the medical procedure it covered thumbnailed down (in the generated preview) to a fairly graphic photo of a woman's private parts being operated on... and that resulted in an uncontestable instaban. No humans can be reached…

Facebook + Google hold similar levels of power as governments over our lives, and so should adopt similar structures. An independent judiciary, review bodies, ombudsmen, aldermen, etc.

We already hold similar levels of power. We can just not use Facebook and Google. One needs neither of these services to live a normal life.

Re: Ask HN: Microsoft SmartScreen is destroying our business

#96

Post by WesolyKubeczek »

missedthecue wrote: post #86

When this happened to my software product I fixed it by purchasing a Comodo EV code signing certificate. It cost me $502, it was FedExed to me in a USB, and I signed my program. Tens of thousands of installs later, I have never had an issue with smart screen. Note that there are two types of code signing certs, you want the EV Code Signing Certificate. It will instantly give your program reputation that ends the smar…

Looks like protection racket.

Re: Ask HN: Microsoft SmartScreen is destroying our business

#97

Post by scarface74 »

barneygale wrote: post #83
pmarreck wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am currently in a 3 day Facebook ban because I posted an NIH (National Institute of Health, peak legitimacy right here) link which was meant to help someone understand something. Unfortunately, the medical procedure it covered thumbnailed down (in the generated preview) to a fairly graphic photo of a woman's private parts being operated on... and that resulted in an uncontestable instaban. No humans can be reached…

Facebook + Google hold similar levels of power as governments over our lives, and so should adopt similar structures. An independent judiciary, review bodies, ombudsmen, aldermen, etc.

Yes, because the judicial system is free of politics and nothing can ever go wrong by giving the government more power to police what can be done on private platforms.

Re: Ask HN: Microsoft SmartScreen is destroying our business

#98

Post by dtjb »

abpavel wrote: post #91
lucb1e wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should they then not just reply with "You're on the list because of the malware payload at "?

No, because they would cause the following scenario: Malicious attacker looks for exactly what Microsoft detected, and fixes each specific detection while keep operating the undetected ones. The end result would be operational malicious site, without being detected.

The fact that Microsoft detected malware is already known, publicly.

Re: Ask HN: Microsoft SmartScreen is destroying our business

#99

Post by scarface74 »

ok123456 wrote: post #66
gkoberger wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally. It should be illegal for Edge, Chrome and other browsers to take any measures, such as a little warning, in an attempt protect users from malware. I see no way that getting the government involved in this could go badly.

Another anti-trust suit perhaps.

Yes that worked out well last time. Microsoft was broken up and they were forced to unbundled their browser from Windows.

Also, politicians never go after companies for biased reasons and we can count on the government with more power not to abuse it.

Re: Ask HN: Microsoft SmartScreen is destroying our business

#100

Post by scarface74 »

yamtaddle wrote: post #57
Quarrelsome wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does it hurt Microsoft in any way to answer those tickets with "no, your site is participating in a phishing campaign"? And maybe tell the OP how, so that he can clean the malicious material? Ye, it tells bad actors how the detection system works.

This is why well-regarded justice systems don't disclose anything about why they arrested someone and are jailing them indefinitely. It'd give criminals too much of an edge otherwise, and would surely be unworkable and lead to violent anarchy in short order.

Surely you don’t consider the US to have a well regarded justice system do you?
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