I think Microsoft has a general problem with getting rid of unwanted things within their eco-system. I keep complaining that their feedback.azure.com portal is filled with spam/malware comments and links, but even internally their teams can't reach anyone to get it fixed. Example https://feedback.azure.com/d365community/idea/9d0b22d8-c025-...
Github scam investigation: Thousands of “mods” and “cracks” stealing data
11–20 of 165 posts
Re: Github scam investigation: Thousands of “mods” and “cracks” stealing data
#12Why should malware repos be deleted? Serious question. The repos aren't themselves doing harm, are valuable for research, and would be distributed some other way if GH removed them. Maybe a banner “be careful! others have reported that this repo may not do what it claims. proceed with caution” would be a more appropriate response?
Maybe a special flag with a passcode which must be passed to `git clone`, where this passcode is shown in such a banner. To make sure you've read the banner.
Re: Github scam investigation: Thousands of “mods” and “cracks” stealing data
#13I think Microsoft has a general problem with getting rid of unwanted things within their eco-system. I keep complaining that their feedback.azure.com portal is filled with spam/malware comments and links, but even internally their teams can't reach anyone to get it fixed. Example https://feedback.azure.com/d365community/idea/9d0b22d8-c025-...
There used to be some sort of forum they had, I don't remember what it was, MSDN forums or Technet or something, but it used to dominate search results, and all the answers were from like, senior hobbyists who couldn't suggest much more than restarting or suggesting checking for updates. Maybe that was before every search result was Reddit or SO though.
Re: Github scam investigation: Thousands of “mods” and “cracks” stealing data
#14Why should malware repos be deleted? Serious question. The repos aren't themselves doing harm, are valuable for research, and would be distributed some other way if GH removed them. Maybe a banner “be careful! others have reported that this repo may not do what it claims. proceed with caution” would be a more appropriate response?
> The repos aren't themselves doing harm
Yes they are, they're distributing malware
> are valuable for research
Marginally, at best
> and would be distributed some other way if GH removed them
Another way that wasn't so well SEO-optimized and didn't carry the Github halo.
Re: Github scam investigation: Thousands of “mods” and “cracks” stealing data
#15I think Microsoft has a general problem with getting rid of unwanted things within their eco-system. I keep complaining that their feedback.azure.com portal is filled with spam/malware comments and links, but even internally their teams can't reach anyone to get it fixed. Example https://feedback.azure.com/d365community/idea/9d0b22d8-c025-...
As another data point: MSFT have some sort of open mail server/service called onmicrosoft.com which (in my experience anyway) is only being used to send out fraudulent paypal messages. Because it lets the spammer set the From to service@paypal.com and also contains valid DKIM etc, it sails past spam filtering. There are so many complaints about this on (real) paypal.com forums, but Microsoft are apparently unable to do anything about it.
Re: Github scam investigation: Thousands of “mods” and “cracks” stealing data
#16Why should malware repos be deleted? Serious question. The repos aren't themselves doing harm, are valuable for research, and would be distributed some other way if GH removed them. Maybe a banner “be careful! others have reported that this repo may not do what it claims. proceed with caution” would be a more appropriate response?
I don't think that repositories presented and named as Malware or Virus should be deleted - they're good for educational and research purposes I guess.
I specifically mean those that impersonate as legit programs (if you can call a "free download" or "mod" apps legit).
Re: Github scam investigation: Thousands of “mods” and “cracks” stealing data
#17I think Microsoft has a general problem with getting rid of unwanted things within their eco-system. I keep complaining that their feedback.azure.com portal is filled with spam/malware comments and links, but even internally their teams can't reach anyone to get it fixed. Example https://feedback.azure.com/d365community/idea/9d0b22d8-c025-...
As another data point: MSFT have some sort of open mail server/service called onmicrosoft.com which (in my experience anyway) is only being used to send out fraudulent paypal messages. Because it lets the spammer set the From to service@paypal.com and also contains valid DKIM etc, it sails past spam filtering. There are so many complaints about this on (real) paypal.com forums, but Microsoft are apparently unable to…
I use (redacted).on Microsoft.com tenant which is free of cost to me as a sandbox to learn about office 365 admin stuff. I don't work on it every day but it is nice to have this sandbox. I don't send spam or phishing emails. I don't send emails from this tenant at all to others, only to my own email addresses or to people I know for testing purposes.
Re: Github scam investigation: Thousands of “mods” and “cracks” stealing data
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
As another data point: MSFT have some sort of open mail server/service called onmicrosoft.com which (in my experience anyway) is only being used to send out fraudulent paypal messages. Because it lets the spammer set the From to service@paypal.com and also contains valid DKIM etc, it sails past spam filtering. There are so many complaints about this on (real) paypal.com forums, but Microsoft are apparently unable to…
I use (redacted).on Microsoft.com tenant which is free of cost to me as a sandbox to learn about office 365 admin stuff. I don't work on it every day but it is nice to have this sandbox. I don't send spam or phishing emails. I don't send emails from this tenant at all to others, only to my own email addresses or to people I know for testing purposes.
Presumably you don't send out emails appearing to come from service@paypal.com saying things like "Reminder: You've still got a money request", with an HTML body that looks exactly like Paypal but contains a fraudulent link and phone number, so you should be fine.
Re: Github scam investigation: Thousands of “mods” and “cracks” stealing data
#19I think Microsoft has a general problem with getting rid of unwanted things within their eco-system. I keep complaining that their feedback.azure.com portal is filled with spam/malware comments and links, but even internally their teams can't reach anyone to get it fixed. Example https://feedback.azure.com/d365community/idea/9d0b22d8-c025-...
There used to be some sort of forum they had, I don't remember what it was, MSDN forums or Technet or something, but it used to dominate search results, and all the answers were from like, senior hobbyists who couldn't suggest much more than restarting or suggesting checking for updates. Maybe that was before every search result was Reddit or SO though.
That's MSDN, and these "senior hobbyists" were given a badge by MS to look credible: "MVP" (most valuable professional).
Cherry on top: you used to pay to have an MSDN membership and access this wonderful community.
To be fair though, the early MSDN was really good, and in a distant past MVP was a real achievement (say early 2000s). Now it's a weird mix real issues and "my printer blinks red, how to fix?"
I don't think anyone reads MSDN at Microsoft anymore, it's a deadland, but I guess they generate some metrics of user engagement and product feedback from there.
Re: Github scam investigation: Thousands of “mods” and “cracks” stealing data
#20I think Microsoft has a general problem with getting rid of unwanted things within their eco-system. I keep complaining that their feedback.azure.com portal is filled with spam/malware comments and links, but even internally their teams can't reach anyone to get it fixed. Example https://feedback.azure.com/d365community/idea/9d0b22d8-c025-...
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