|
The
Claims.
Many
false scare tactics are employed by some Internet marketing
and software companies to sell their products. These tactics
and claims are usually designed to scare the user into buying
software or services under false pretences. Normally these
claims are associated with manufacturers selling evidence
eliminating and secure erasing software. There are many
vendors of this type of software and we suggest that you
avoid ones which employ false scare tactics similar to the
ones mentioned below.
A
lot of web sites feature popup adverts with claims of "You
are being watched", "The FBI has a record on you",
"Your computer is full of evidence", "Police
raids have started today", "What are all those
dirty pictures?", "You are under investigation"
and the best one of the bunch "Everyone can see your
files". Often the contents of your drive are displayed
to you giving the appearance that your security has been
breached and that your Firewall or security software did
not properly do its job, afterall the whole Internet can
see your files can't they?
The
Facts.
Nobody
can see your files except yourself as the trick uses a very
simple Javascript which displays the contents of the local
drive in an IFrame. Many users fall for this deceit and
purchase products they never really needed anyway and then
send angry letters to their security software supplier demanding
to know how could their security be breached so easily.
The truth is that it never was breached and the claim of
others being able to view the contents of your drive is
completely false. Below is an example of how this simple
exploit works which will display the contents of your local
drive to you. The contents are displayed only to you and
other people cannot see them.
While
it is true that your computer does cache temporary files
downloaded or viewed from the Internet it is very unlikely
that you have anything to fear if the content you have been
viewing is legal. Deleted files also remain on the disk
surface until overwritten by new data and can still leave
fragments. While these tools do serve as useful utilities
for the extremely paranoid, the average user will never
need such a tool to avoid the Police knocking on their door
or to avoid the everybody being able to view their files
untruth. Buying this kind of tool from vendors who employ
needless scare tactics only serves to allow them to profit
from their deceit. We suggest that if you purchase this
type of tool that you look for a vendor that does not employ
fear tactics.
The
Commonly Used Scare Tactic.
How
is this Simple Deceit Performed?
The
answer is quite simple and it requires just a few lines
of harmless code to operate. Although the code is simple
and harmless if it displays a message next to the displayed
contents of your local drive it can cause a lot of undue
fear and concern. The code is implemented into a web page
or a popup usually with a severe warning intended to cause
fear. Many users are taken in by this deliberate deception
and should be aware that the threats and dangers claimed
about your hard disk contents being visible to everyone
is completely untrue.
<p><iframe
name="I1" src="file:///C|/" width="400"
height="212">
Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently
configured not to display inline frames.
</iframe><p>
Copying
and pasting this code into a web page will display the
contents of the local drive to the person viewing it.
It is as simple as that to cause fear and panic. Legislation
will probably be brought against people who market in
this way in the near future. It is generally accepted
that it is not only dishonest but unfair competition against
vendors who are honest and that do not resort to this
kind of practice.
|
