BitTorrent and its Spyware/Adware Problems

Well folks it’s finally became such a problem that it can’t be hidden or over looked any longer. BitTorrent (the darling of tech bandwidth sharing download programs) has become a major spreader of Spyware and Adware. What started as only a small problem has become a real river of filth and trash as BitTorrent becomes only the latest in a long line of p2p software download programs to be taken over by Spyware/Adware distributors.

Let me make one thing clear. BitTorrent isn’t to blame as it’s impossible to stop this stuff and I knew it was only a matter of time before it became a problem for BitTorrent. If you use ANY p2p program not just BitTorrent it’s only a matter of time before you become infected with one or all of the following; Spyware, Adware, a virus, or a Trojan. Let’s just say that BitTorrent took a little longer before it had the problem because of its high tech base.

I first noticed it back in October of last year (2004) when I found that a download of Linspire I had made using BitTorrent was infected with an Adware program (yes even Linux has this problem). It got me to checking into what was going on and what I found was discouraging to say the least. Most of the savvy users of BitTorrent I knew had discovered that it was now spreading more and more Spyware/Adware infected programs.

It’s too bad as I loved BitTorrent and used it quite often to download programs because of its easy handling of large downloads. Even with my high speed cable modem it made many downloads faster and easer by reducing the bandwidth problems for servers downloading large popular programs.

But that is over as I no longer use BitTorrent’s program anymore. The chance of infected downloads is just too great right now. So sadly I bid goodbye to a program that I used and loved. Does this mean that you shouldn’t use BitTorrent? Well I’ll leave that up to you but I don’t think that it’s a good idea if you’re concerned about security.

So a word to the wise avoid BitTorrent unless you have a good compelling reason to use it and be sure to scan and examine anything that you download or you will be opening the door to a lot of security issues.

For additional information about this problem check out this recent article from eWeek;

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1828633,00.asp