Spybot Search & Destroy Stands Up To Malware

The owner of Spybot Search and Destroy received a cease and desist from Oska Educational Systems because it detects DeskMates. Users usually find out they have tis when they have dancing girls and a new toolbar. The program gets installed by a trojan. It seems someone who is an affiliate had the bright idea to have DeskMates added by a trojan so they could make more money. Affiliates make money by the number of installs, so more installs equal more money. Since people might not install Deskmates, why not have a trojan install it for them? Spybot tried to work with Oska to end the unwanted installs but to no avail.

So Oska sent in the lawyers and told Spybot they needed to stop detecting DeskMates and to post a public apology, as well as some other stuff. Patrick Kolla, creator of Spybot S & D, posted the reply to these demands on the home of Spybot Search and Destroy. This has also been posted on Digg, where the story is fast approaching 7400 diggs.

I guess the malware makers didn't realize how many people use and like Spybot.