OT: Beware of free e-mail program - it steals your password and vital data.
The program is called ProMail and has been widely available through reputable sites, such as CNET.
This program has a trojan horse which steals vital data about you. I surmise it could also steal your Datek info. Beware.
Here's the article:
msnbc.com
<<March 23 — A freeware e-mail program named ProMail, which has been distributed by software Web sites such as shareware.com, is really a Trojan horse. It sends user names and passwords in encrypted form to an account on free e-mail provider NetAddress. But aside from that, ProMail is a fully functional e-mail client, and a robust one at that, say the security experts who discovered its secret.
CREATING A LEGITIMATE, FULLY functional Internet e-mail utility as a rogue for a password stealer is a fresh twist on an Internet Trojan horse. Apparently, it was good enough to fool major software sites such as CNet's shareware.com and Simtel.Net, and as of Monday evening, filelibrary.com was still offering it for download. But if you install and run the program, it will gather your full name, organization, e-mail address, user name, password, SMTP and POP3 servers, and more — then package them up and e-mail them to an account at NetAddress.
Aeon Labs, which calls itself an online technology research company, posted a warning to its Web site earlier this month. A representative of Aeon Labs wrote in a note posted to a security newsgroup that the lab cracked into the destination accounts for the e-mail and found about 80 victims, and the company nows says there are hundreds of victims.
MSNBC downloaded the e-mail client from freeware.com on Friday. The program's readme notes say it was created by Smartware Inc., but Hemal C. Mehtalia, Smartware Inc.'s president, said his company doesn't write software. Security Firm Data Fellows said ProMail's “About” box indicates the program is based on an open source code written by Michael Haller, but Haller has nothing to do with the Trojan. He developed a free program, Phoenix Mail, and has made the full source code available. Phoenix Mail and its source code are available for download from this site.
The first reference to the freeware Trojan appears to have come Feb. 24, when a note circulated in newsgroups advising that a free e-mail program, ProMail v 1.21, had been uploaded to ftp.simtel.net. It hawked the program as “an advanced and easy to use Internet e-mail client,” boasting it offered “no attachment size limitations,” “configurable filters” and even “external virus scanner support.”
The "About" box credits Michael Haller, who developed an open-source e-mail program
But while a user enjoys those features, in the background, the program collects personal user data, and as soon as an SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol) connection is established, it sends the data to an e-mail account, presumably owned by the author. All e-mails are sent with the same subject line: “kirio.”
Shareware.com does not filter software it posts — it automatically points to several partner sites that archive downloadable programs — and CNet has no control over the individual files available from shareware.com.
Calls to Simtel were not immediately returned, but that site points to 93 different shareware archives, making complete removal of ProMail difficult.
ProMail is a fully functional e-mail client
Ken Williams, who runs a popular security Web site called Packet Storm Security, received an e-mail Monday from someone claiming to be the author of the Trojan. It was sent via an anonymous remailer, so its authenticity is suspect. In that note, the alleged author describes himself as a teen-ager who just wanted to prove a point.
“IIt is not an original work. I have modified an existing public domain and open source email program adding only the ‘trojan horse' code,” the teen-ager, who identified himself as David, wrote. “Let me assure all you people using Pro-mail, I did not use, store, sell or do anything with your passwords or other data. And I did not download your mail ... I just wanted to increase the public's awareness on the problem of Internet privacy.
“Now if a program written by a teenager can be spread SO EASILY over the Net, unchecked ... then something must be wrong.”>>
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