15 replies to this topic

[Aluchem]

I'm getting repeated warnings from my Virus software (Avast) about the Agony site, better check that out

[Aluchem]

Looks like it is most likely Avast, as I'm getting positives from other sites that don't typically host malware

[Silivay]

I use Avast and haven't received any warnings. Are there certain pages?

[Aluchem]

No it's just on any page view or refresh, seems to be tied to google api scriptaculous.

[Silivay]

I am using the free version of Avast. Perhaps the paid version detects something else. I have used Firefox v21 and v22, maybe a browser difference? I have the noscript addon running, but I have allowed googleapis.com.

[Aluchem]

I'm also using the free version of Avast. Post update and there are no warnings, so most likely false positives.

[Oweim]

I'm running McAfee and have gotten the warning (just two days ago)

[Greygal]

This was sent to me by one of the people receiving virus warnings:

 

[Othran]

No offence but unless you have a specific reason for requiring Java (95% of people don't) then you should remove it. If you require Java on a server (its common) then FFS use one of the cut-down versions Oracle now provide for that very purpose - they have cut large chunks of library functions from these versions hence reducing the attack profile.

 

Since Oracle got their hands on Java it has become the most exploited piece of software on PCs. It isn't a risk these days, its a bloody liability.

 

Deinstall it is the only sensible advice, for Oracle have proven they cannot be relied upon to fix "in the wild" exploits promptly.

[Silivay]

The alert might indicate that some content (such as an iframe) was added to the agony-unleashed.com web server that tries to pull a java exploit package from another site. Apache 2 (or Linux) appears to have an unidentified exploit at the present - though I don't know that Agony is running either of those.

 

You might try something like this to look for added modules.

http://blog.sucuri.n...he-modules.html

 

Agree, at least disable Java plugin in the browser. NoScript is really nice as well; although, it will drive you nuts for the first month while you get the white list completed.

[Othran]

NoScript & Adblock+ make browsing much nicer, but rather than just disabling Java plugins you may as well remove Java completely.

 

I haven't seen a single applet in the last 3 years and not even things like LibreOffice still require Java ("Open"Office still does but Oracle controls that, so you'd have to be delusional to use it).

[Zael Serine]

 

 ("Open"Office still does but Oracle controls that, so you'd have to be delusional to use it).

 

What are you getting at? Some people cannot afford Microsoft Office, so Open office is a good alternative.

[Dior Saursi]

I'll remove java from my pc when minecraft no longer requires it.

[Othran]

 

 

 ("Open"Office still does but Oracle controls that, so you'd have to be delusional to use it).

 

What are you getting at? Some people cannot afford Microsoft Office, so Open office is a good alternative.

 

 

OpenOffice has been a pile of junk since shortly after Oracle bought Sun. Just like Java is now junk. Oracle bought Sun in 2010 basically for the hardware/server side of things (although MySQL probably figured high up in the list); they didn't want Java other than to screw up competitors so its been largely abandoned until the last year - even then Oracle are only doing something about it because of bad publicity.

 

LibreOffice is the alternative to OpenOffice; written and maintained by the people who used to develop/maintain OpenOffice (for free) before Oracle told them to fuck off. Naturally, given their distrust of Oracle one of the first tasks for the new "fork" was to remove Java - they're pretty much there now, I've never noticed any loss of functionality but apparently Base still requires Java. Edit - linky for you, can't believe you're still using OpenOffice http://www.libreoffice.org/default/

 

@Dior - never played it so wasn't aware it was a java applet.

[Loash]

Deinstall it is the only sensible advice, for Oracle have proven they cannot be relied upon to fix "in the wild" exploits promptly.

 

Those of us in Denmark don't have a choice since the NemID system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NemID) (access to your bank, medical records, etc, etc) is Java based, can't say I like it, but I am stuck with it.

[Othran]

 

Deinstall it is the only sensible advice, for Oracle have proven they cannot be relied upon to fix "in the wild" exploits promptly.

 

Those of us in Denmark don't have a choice since the NemID system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NemID) (access to your bank, medical records, etc, etc) is Java based, can't say I like it, but I am stuck with it.

 

 

Best bet then is to use some form of "LiveCD" to boot from when you need to access those services. There's plenty of fast-booting Linux distros around or just roll your own.

 

It could be worse - for a while (ages ago) our bank used ActiveX. Now that really IS clueless