CNET Download (originally Download.com) is an

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

download directory

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

launched in 1996 as a part of

CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...

. Initially it resided on the domain ''download.com'', and then ''download.com.com'' for a while, and is now ''download.cnet.com''. The domain ''download.com'' attracted at least 113 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a

Compete.com Compete.com was a web traffic analysis service. The company was founded in 2000 and ceased operations in December 2016. Services Compete.com provided two categories of information: *Site Analytics : a free service, where the user can enter any ...

study.

Overview

The offered content is available in four major categories: ''software'' (including Windows, Mac and mobile), ''music'', ''games'', and ''videos'', offered for download via

FTP The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and data ...

from Download.com's servers or third-party servers. Videos are streams (at present) and music was all free MP3 downloads, or occasionally rights-managed WMAs or streams until it was replaced with last.fm. The Software section includes over 100,000

freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the f ...

shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer ...

, and try-first downloads. Downloads are often rated and reviewed by editors and contain a summary of the file from the software publisher. Registered users may also write reviews and rate the product. Software publishers are permitted to distribute their titles via CNET's Upload.com site for free, or for a fee structure that offers enhancements. Up until 2015 CNet used

Spigot Inc Spigot, Inc is a digital marketing company. Spigot, Inc was founded in Silicon Valley in 2008. The company's headquarters is located in Incline Village, Nevada Incline Village is a census-designated place (CDP) on the north shore of Lake Tah ...

to monetize the traffic to download.com. According to Sean Murphy, then a General Manager at CNet , "Spigot continues to be a great partner to Download.com, sharing our desire to balance customer experience with revenue."

Malware distribution

In August 2011, Download.com introduced an installation manager called CNET TechTracker for delivering many of the software titles from its catalog. This installer included trojans and bloatware, such as

toolbars The toolbar, also called a bar or standard toolbar (originally known as ribbon) is a graphical control element on which on-screen icons can be used. A toolbar often allows for quick access to functions that are commonly used in the program. Some ...

. CNET admitted in their download FAQ that "a small number of security publishers have flagged the Installer as

adware Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue for its developer by automatically generating online advertisements in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the ...

or a

potentially unwanted application A potentially unwanted program (PUP) or potentially unwanted application (PUA) is software that a user may perceive as unwanted or unnecessary. It is used as a subjective tagging criterion by security and parental control products. Such software ma ...

". In December 2011,

Gordon Lyon Gordon Lyon (also known by his pseudonym Fyodor Vaskovich) is an American network security expert, creator of Nmap and writer of books, websites, and technical papers about network security. He is a founding member of the Honeynet Project and wa ...

, writing under his pseudonym ''Fyodor'' wrote of his strong dislike of the installation manager and the bundled software. His post was very popular on social networks, and was reported by a few dozen media. The main problem is the confusion between the content offered on Download.com and the software offered by the original authors; the accusations included deception as well as copyright and trademark violation. In 2014,

The Register ''The Register'' is a British technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee, John Lettice and Ross Alderson. The online newspaper's masthead sublogo is "''Biting the hand that feeds IT''." Their primary focus is information tec ...

and US-CERT warned that via download.com's " foistware", an "attacker may be able to download and execute arbitrary code". In 2015, research by :Emsisoft suggested that all free download portals bundled their downloads with potentially unwanted software, and that Download.com was the worst offender. A study done by How-To Geek in 2015 revealed that Download.com was packaging malware inside their installers. The test was done in a

virtual machine In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization/emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve specialized hardw ...

where the testers downloaded the Top 10 apps. These all contained crapware/malware; one example was the KMPlayer installer, which installed a

rogue antivirus Rogue security software is a form of malicious software and internet fraud that misleads users into believing there is a virus on their computer and aims to convince them to pay for a fake malware removal tool that actually installs malware on ...

named 'Pro PC Cleaner' and attempted to execute WajamPage.exe. Some downloads, specifically YTD, were completely blocked by Avast. Another study done by How-To Geek in 2015 revealed that Download.com was installing fake SSL certificates inside their installers, similar to the

Lenovo Lenovo Group Limited, often shortened to Lenovo ( , ), is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, Personal computer, personal computers, ...

Superfish certificate. These fake certificates can completely compromise SSL encryption and allow man-in-the-middle attacks. However, in July 2016, How-To Geek discovered that Download.com no longer included adware/malware in its downloads and that its Installer program had been discontinued.

References

{{Red Ventures CNET Adware American music websites Download websites File hosting Former CBS Interactive websites Free music download websites Internet properties established in 1996

Overview

Malware distribution

See also

References