SiteAdvisor - Dean's cover is blown

[Lev]

His blog: http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com

I am not 100% sure it is him, so if anyone has any information please feel free to share

[WayneB]

Maybe many bad reviews of their products would be fair game.

[ColinSick]

Wow! :shock:

Outstanding work Lev.

[nebula1]

Legal time? :) I think so.

[mojojuju]

Perhaps it would be revealing to run some of "Dean's" siteadvisor reviews along with some of Alex Eckelberry's blog posts though some heuristic analysis software to see what kind of semantic similarities there are, if any.

[simpleone]

Hi Lev,

I'm very interested to know if this is the guy or not.

For some of us who missed the connection, is there somewhere in his blog that gives him away as being Dean?

Thanks!

[Lev]

Hi Lev,

I'm very interested to know if this is the guy or not.

For some of us who missed the connection, is there somewhere in his blog that gives him away as being Dean?

Thanks!

I am not 100% sure it is him, but someone from ewealth provided me with these clues. I asked the person to maybe post how a possible link between this guy Alex and Dean was established.

[Steve S.]

I am not 100% sure it is him...


Then why don't you post that "Dean" could be just about anyone or
anything?
I think it's very dangerous to publically "suspect" someone without
showing any proof.

[Adrian]

Having a deep dislike for Mcafee. And I'm not the one to brought the name up. But here are some things I found that validate the claim. Make your own decisions.

Sunbelt Software Blog at 11-10-2007, 4:58 PM

Some more fake codec sites

gneprogram(dot)com
ndcperformance(dot)com
mzdsoftware(dot)com
pkbsolution(dot)com
zerocodec(dot)com

As is the case with fake codecs these days, the binaries are hidden and getting them depends on where the developer hides them. With certain sites, you can often get a sample through /download/(sitename).exe (there are always more binaries in the same directory as well, each numbered for affiliates). For other codec sites, /download.php?id=4082 will get a binary (that number is just an affiliate ID — other numbers work as well). If you are hunting for Mac fake codecs, remember to change your user agent to a Mac. And please — don’t touch these binaries unless you know what you’re doing, as they are live Trojans.

From SiteAdvisor

gneprogram.com
Posted By dean 11-10-2007, 05:46 PM

Rating: Adware, Spyware, or Viruses

What sparsha said. The site does not have a home page - all you will get is the 403 error that is standard operating procedure on sites like this, which are purveyors of rogue codecs. Malware is...

mzdsoftware.com
Posted By dean 11-10-2007, 05:46 PM

Rating: Adware, Spyware, or Viruses

What sparsha said. The site does not have a home page - all you will get is the 403 error that is standard operating procedure on sites like this, which are purveyors of rogue codecs. Malware is...

ndcperformance.com
Posted By dean 11-10-2007, 05:46 PM

Rating: Adware, Spyware, or Viruses

What sparsha said. The site does not have a home page - all you will get is the 403 error that is standard operating procedure on sites like this, which are purveyors of rogue codecs. Malware is...

pkbsolution.com
Posted By dean 11-10-2007, 05:46 PM

Rating: Adware, Spyware, or Viruses

What sparsha said. The site does not have a home page - all you will get is the 403 error that is standard operating procedure on sites like this, which are purveyors of rogue codecs. Malware is...

zerocodec.com
Posted By dean 11-10-2007, 05:41 PM

Look at a review on site adviser about this site http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/zsvcompany.com

The two parties are connected in some fashion.

[alexeck]

Hi folks, that's my blog (www.sunbeltblog.com). I have no idea who this guy Dean is, no relation to me or my company.

We get information on fake codecs from a variety of sources -- our own research, as well as field researchers.

Alex Eckelberry
sunbeltblog.com

[Lev]

Alex,

Thanks for joining. Perhaps you can help then.

Seems like you are connected to McAfee and know how to talk some sense into them regarding this comment spam as demonstrated here:
http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/mea-culpa.html

This guy dean is using a lot of your personal photos from your flickr site.

Here's an example of one of his posts: http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/hardcodec.com

Not sure how he found this photo, but certainly you will want to add some security around your flickr profile.
http://flickr.com/photos/69395148@N00/298892669/in/set-72157594378996091//

Your skateboarding photos are cool, btw.

He also posts links to your firm's server such as:
http://sunbelt-software.com/ihs/alex/2139809808df1998818231231231231_thumb.jpg on
http://www.siteadvisor.pl/sites/prettycodec.com

Then, he links to webhelper4u.net in many of his posts such as http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/dxcodec.com/postid?p=548284.
The webhelper guy is Patrick Jordan, is he not?

Also, you should be very careful with the guy who calls himself Sparsha on siteadvisor as his site http://bharath-m-narayan.blogspot.com seems to mirror your blog.

Perhaps you know who he is since you thank Bharath a lot in your blog.

The 4 SiteAdvisor spam reviewers, Sparsha, ColoradoChris, mechBgon, and dean all use Sunbelt Software as reference and seem to be linked somehow, perhaps you can help us figure out how for the sake of legitimate internet commerce?

[mojojuju]

Having a deep dislike for Mcafee. And I'm not the one to brought the name up. But here are some things I found that validate the claim. Make your own decisions.

I think it may be the case that it doesn't validate it, but it's evidence which could support the assertion.

[ColinSick]

perhaps you can help us figure out how for the sake of legitimate internet commerce?

Very well stated Lev. Excellent work.


Alex,......welcome to eWealth. Hopefully this mystery can soon be solved.

[Mpio]

Hi folks, that's my blog (www.sunbeltblog.com). I have no idea who this guy Dean is, no relation to me or my company.

We get information on fake codecs from a variety of sources -- our own research, as well as field researchers.

Alex Eckelberry
sunbeltblog.com

BULLSHIT

You know who this guy is and if you don't, you have no Business Selling Counterspy Software. With the technology you guys have, you should know Exactly WTF is going on and who this Dean "Character" is.

Smarten Up.

Do you think we were all born at night? Maybe, but it wasn't last night.

The more I look at this, the more disturbed I am at the lack of action and denial from all of you.

[Steve S.]

Thanks for clearing things up, Lev.
I am amazed (to say the least)! Now I understand
why you had (have) a suspect. I also understand
why you pointed your finger in a certain direction
publically.

Cheers

[darkeralice]

Hi folks, that's my blog (www.sunbeltblog.com). I have no idea who this guy Dean is, no relation to me or my company.

We get information on fake codecs from a variety of sources -- our own research, as well as field researchers.

Alex Eckelberry
sunbeltblog.com


A lot of people with a lot of money and capabilities hang around ewealth.
Many of them are very very(VERY) angry at this.
You should think many times about what you say , and be very careful
not to deviate from the truth.

[alexeck]

Hello again,

I really don't have the faintest idea who Dean is. If he's linking to my work, that's fine -- he's not stealing it, and he's more than welcome to link to it. Frankly, we do have good work, and a lot of people link to our data because of its quality.

Regarding Bharath, he is an independent security researcher who sends us a lot of stuff. But he's not paid by us nor does he have any relation to us.

Regarding all the rest -- mechbon, etc., a lot of these people come from forums like DSLRreports, CastleCops and SpywareWarrior.com. I have absolutely no relation that I know of to the ones you listed -- Sparsha, ColoradoChris, mechBgon, nor dean; nor do I even know who they are apart from seeing their handles in comments and forums.

Webhelpr, yes, that is Patrick Jordan and he works for us. Also, another person who goes by the handle of TNT works for us. As regards the rest, no idea who they are, but they are all dedicated and good security researchers who are out there helping others.

If you think I'm bs'ing you, that's understandable. But I really don't have any reason to BS you. If Dean was working for me, I'd be proud -- he seems to do good work. But I haven't a clue who he is.

Alex

[mojojuju]

As unpopular as this view may be, I currently believe that Alex's account should be considered.

We make our livings with Clickbank and it's right for us to feel angry. That Clickbank as a whole is red flagged as a result of linking to what may be considered shady products is a problem more greatly associated with what may be the way that siteadvisor ranks sites based on who they link to and of subjective appraisals by anonomous reviewers.

Probably not taken into account in devising the site advisor system, Clickbank is only a payment processor & operates professionally when matters of customer refunds and disputes are concerned. Every dispute a customer has with a merchant that uses Clickbank is handled in a professional way that aims for consumer satisfaction.

It's merely an indicator of ignorance of the siteadvisor system that results in Clickbank being flagged. I remember a recent post on CBSF regarding a web site that sold hundreds of pirated products one of them being nebula1's new ebook. The pirated book site offered the consumer option of paying by Google Checkout, but this is not to say that Google should be considered a shady web site only for facilitating payment of pirated goods. It must also be noted that Google's SERPS link to the piracy web site.

The problem is siteadvisor, and as long as a system like it is in place, there will be disgruntled customers & people of conflicting interests that will have something negative to say about sites for their own personal & subjective reasons. Social Networking & social review systems have great flaws. Many site's have made it to the top of Digg which were arguably just crap where the site owner had a lot of friends.

In accord with the pitfalls of the "guilty by linking to" nature of the siteadvisor system, I could suggest one immediate and pragmatic, although seemingly ridiculous, remedy:

One: In addition to the 3-5000 products that the Clickbank.com & Clickbank.net's domains link to, they could also, from other parts of their site, link to thousands of sites which are deemed "green" by the siteadvisor system in an effort to dilute the weight of the "red" sites in determining the legitimacy of clickbank. This idea is suggestive of the infallability of the siteadvisor system.

Two: Another idea that certainly has limits. For Clickbank to decide, any vendors in the marketplace which could potentialy be deemed "red" by siteadvisor, Clickbank could use separate domains for the linking to and the payment of such products. A problem with this would be the inevitable "red" flagging of the alternate domain.
Along this route, products screened as potentially being described by siteadvisor would have hoplinks & payment links like the following:

http://affid.vendid.hop.clickbank2.com
http://item.publisher.pay.clickbank2.net

A ridiculous remedy to a ridiculous problem.

It also should be noted that problems with McAfee's reliability are not unprecedented.

McAfee anti-virus update flags hundreds of innocent files as virus (http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/25123/135/)

And here's another story which I will post the full text here

(http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5361660.html)
McAfee's Trojan horse error gets developer's goat (http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5361660.html)

An Australian software developer is considering suing McAfee after the antivirus company wrongly identified his Internet setup program as a Trojan horse in a recent virus definition update.

Mark Griffiths of Brisbane said he is "not ruling out" filing a lawsuit against McAfee even after the antivirus company released on Thursday an update to its DAT virus definition file that fixes the false positive.

Griffiths sells the Internet setup program, ISPWizard, to Internet service providers in more than 20 countries. McAfee antivirus software on ISP customers' computers labeled ISPWizard as the BackDoor-AKZ Trojan horse. Because the McAfee software automatically eliminates the program from the users' system, many were not able to connect to their ISP.

Griffiths said he was first notified about the mistake on Sept. 2 by ISPs in the United States. They had been alerted by their customers, who had not been able to access their Internet services. Immediately after being notified, Griffiths sent an e-mail to McAfee but did not hear back from the antivirus vendor until Monday.

"[i]t's the developer's job to be aware of this situation. The developer should know that the world is using anti-virus software, and everyone is well aware that anti-virus software can cause other software not to install correctly."
--Alex Alexzander

Griffiths estimated a loss in revenue of at least 50 percent for this month because the program was labeled a Trojan. He added that one of his customers lost $3,000 after the provider's customers shifted to another ISP as a result of the McAfee difficulties.

Allan Bell, McAfee marketing director for the Asia-Pacific region, said the company released a new DAT file on Thursday including changes that addressed Griffiths' problem. Bell explained that the software identifies Trojan horses based on a signature or a pattern. Because of this, he said, "there is always a danger of a false positive," meaning the DAT file matches a program that is not a virus.

Bell said McAfee provides a procedure for developers to ensure their software is tested. He added that developers can submit their program for testing, free of charge, by calling the McAfee support department. The program is then matched to the 30 million files of known good code to make sure there are no false positives.

"We do have a large database of known good files and programs that we scan against to make sure that there are no false positives. False positives happen in very rare occasions, and so we want to encourage developers to talk to our support department about testing their programs," Bell said.

However, Griffiths said that even after McAfee sent out the changes to the DAT files, some customers who have not updated their personal computers will still not be able to access their ISPs. He added that the changes to the antivirus software will not affect his decision whether to file a lawsuit against McAfee.

"If there is going to be a lawsuit, it wouldn't be affected by the release of the software fix because it took so long for them to do it and how they handled the problem was not satisfactory," Griffiths said.

Bell refused to comment about the possibility of a lawsuit.

I think mcafee needs to be addressed more directly. If "Dean" and the likes of are uncovered, in time, there will probably be another Dean.

Also, of the promotion of the perception that Clickbank as a payment processor is of dubious nature and should be avoided, I've decided not to use any currency to pay for anything. That includes the use of one dollar bills, quarters, five dollar bills, pennies, etc... I refuse to use these forms of payments anymore because I have been aware that such currencies may be used to hire hitmen, to pay for drugs, child pornography, & prostitution. I also refuse to patronize stores that sell cigarettes & alchohol as these substances have caused consumers much damage.

The belief that siteadvisor protects consumers is somewhat justifiable. But I think that consumers simply need to wise up. A dangerous situation arises when a person trusts siteadvisor so much and uses no discretion in forming their own decisions. What happens when a person goes to a site NOT flagged by siteadvisor and assumes that because it is not flagged, decides to shop at the seeminly inert site and get's ripped off?

[ColinSick]

mojojuju........that is an outstanding post. I completely concur.

[nebula1]

If Dean was working for me, I'd be proud -- he seems to do good work.

Autoposting incorrectly on McAfee is good work? :shock:

[Lev]

Alex,

Great, let's keep up the dialog; we're getting much closer, I hope, to stopping this comment spam once and for all.

Certainly you will agree that it hurts ecommerce.

Just looking through some of the haloscan comments from your blog, seems like you don't only know these guys' from seeing their handles in comments and forums, but you, Webhelper, and TNT chat with them on your blog on a regular basis and have been doing so for quite some time.

In fact, some of these chats are quite recent and interesting.
One only needs to Google "alexeck" with one of these handles to notice that they are regulars on your blog and it's tough to believe that you don't know who they are.

Example, "alexeck mechbgon" yields 2 pages of results after you click on "repeat the search with the omitted results included".

Another Example "alexeck coloradochris" yield http://www.haloscan.com/comments/alexeck/8490199377668533318

Here, they appear to be plotting against cisworldwide, 11.04.07 - 7:41 pm
when they say: "Same as the scammers here: www.siteadvisor.com/sites/cisworldwide.com

Oh well, we'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

If you're not dean, sparsha, ColoradoChris, or mechBgon, then, next time you speak to them simply ask them to join eWealth and explain why they've been comment spamming without proof. Aren't they in essence acting like the bad guys they're trying to stop?

Plus, I know everyone on eWealth would be interested to know why you're allowing your blog to be used in such an unscrupulous manner.

[Lev]

Autoposting incorrectly on McAfee is good work? :shock:

I am just puzzled why would he defend a scammer like "dean" if he had no connection to him or his kind

[venrooy]

Mcafee will have to reveal all of Dean's info when a summons is served. And one soon will be. Even if it's only his ip address - that should be enough. I've also talked to my States attorney, and they said that they are going to look further into this. They said that some of the posts on Mcafee could be considered libel, and Mcafee could be held responsible, if enough people bring it to their attention, and they do nothing about it.

I remember ebay being in this situation a few years back when several people started feedback bombing and ruining the reps of ebay sellers. Ebay was forced to remove the feedback or be held responsible.

Ps - I also agree that Alex's account should be considered. If you're not dean, and you don't know who dean is, then how can you come in here and praise his work when you know that we're all extremely pissed about it? I'm all for free speech, but this is "the #1 affiliate hangout" - not the #1 D!ck head hangout. - Pardon the ugliness.

[ColinSick]

I am just puzzled why would he defend a scammer like "dean" if he had no connection to him or his kind


Exactly Lev. It just doesn't make sense.

[simpleone]

------------
If you're not dean, sparsha, ColoradoChris, or mechBgon, then, next time you speak to them simply ask them to join eWealth and explain why they've been comment spamming without proof. Aren't they in essence acting like the bad guys they're trying to stop?
------------

Exactly..how can someone who has made 1000's of posts on SitAdvisor be considered an advisor when they are not even a customer...this reminds me when I was in school and the professor/teacher who was "teaching me how to start a business" when they didnt even have a business of their own" It's amazing who we rely on for advice ...its really sad.

Also this SiteAdvisor leaves the vulnerability for a fake customer to pretend and say they were a customer. By saying "I just purchased this product and it sucked"

Just from reading all the posts on SiteAdvisor, its very easy for the website owner to be able to tell who is a real customer of theirs just by what they say in the post. But for a person who is shopping and relying on SA, they cant tell. They believe all posts are from customers. They think SA is their holy grail.

I would say anywhere from 95-99% of the posts are not from customers making these sites red....

Alot of these spammers have to be getting paid somehow under the table to do all this spamming. Or trying to hurt their competition by red flagging their competition with false posts. Maybe Alex knows something about this? Hmm...

Who in the right mind would do thousands and thousands of posts if their isnt any $$$ in it for them up front or in the end? Doesnt make sense for these spammers unless their is some green in it for them.

[nebula1]

These people should be held accountable for lost profits.

[RazorElite]

Yeah, I'm wondering wtf would he proud if dean was working for him. What good work does he do? That's of course unless spamming is your business.

[sparsha]

Yeah, I'm wondering wtf would he proud if dean was working for him. What good work does he do? That's of course unless spamming is your business.

Hi all,

i would like to mention that i havent spammed anything without proof. All the reviews that i have posted on Siteadvisor is related to zlob trojan sites, rogue security application and nothing else.

Can some one please point out the review i have made that harms your business.

Thanks,
Sparsha

[RazorElite]

Hi all,

i would like to mention that i havent spammed anything without proof. All the reviews that i have posted on Siteadvisor is related to zlob trojan sites, rogue security application and nothing else.

Can some one please point out the review i have made that harms your business.

Thanks,
Sparsha

Are you "dean"?

[Mpio]

Hello again,

I really don't have the faintest idea who Dean is. If he's linking to my work, that's fine -- he's not stealing it, and he's more than welcome to link to it. Frankly, we do have good work, and a lot of people link to our data because of its quality.

Regarding Bharath, he is an independent security researcher who sends us a lot of stuff. But he's not paid by us nor does he have any relation to us.

Regarding all the rest -- mechbon, etc., a lot of these people come from forums like DSLRreports, CastleCops and SpywareWarrior.com. I have absolutely no relation that I know of to the ones you listed -- Sparsha, ColoradoChris, mechBgon, nor dean; nor do I even know who they are apart from seeing their handles in comments and forums.

Webhelpr, yes, that is Patrick Jordan and he works for us. Also, another person who goes by the handle of TNT works for us. As regards the rest, no idea who they are, but they are all dedicated and good security researchers who are out there helping others.

If you think I'm bs'ing you, that's understandable. But I really don't have any reason to BS you. If Dean was working for me, I'd be proud -- he seems to do good work. But I haven't a clue who he is.

Alex

You lie.

Shame on You!

It appears that CounterSpy, McAfee, PC Magazine and Others are all involved in something.

What? Do you guys think you own the Internet?

You meet the same people on the way down that you meet on the way up.

Just remember that.

:punish:

[Gap2007]

I built an affiliate website full of 10 of the most popular Clickbank money making products at the time. These products including things like Ultimate Wealth Package, Profit Lance and others.

Once I started my keyword campaign for "make money online" keywords I noticed I got flagged by Mcafee. Guess who flagged it?

Now what the hell, this guy had to know i was spending allot on advertising and he flags it because of the products. Check out his comments he left about my website at Mcafee.

You can visit my domain at http://www.top-online-businesses.com and see that it is still flagged by Mcafee.

I THINK SOMETHING IS GOING ON BUT WHY DO THEY HAVE TO ATTACK OUR BUSINESSES. DEAN SAYS IT RIGHT IN THE COMMENT HE LEFT AT MCAFEE ABOUT MY WEBSITE.

"As usual, the motive is a small-time scammer hoping to cash in big through affiliate links processed through that paragon of trustworthiness, ClickBank."
Dean

"If you are reading this Dean. :finger: "

[Gap2007]

I forgot to say that he was only at my website for a brief moment and most likely didnt read the page. He flagged it because it had Clickbank products.

You can look at his reviews and lots of them are done in less then a minute. he has many entries for different websites reviewed at the same time of day.

[Lev]

It looks like he truly hates Clickbank and his emotions are reflected in his reviews. Reviews based on factless allegations will not go unnoticed, too many people are pissed off!

[mojojuju]

I suspect that this "Dean" guy really needs to get laid.