Stealth P2P network hides inside Kazaa

By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
April 1, 2002, 5:35 PM PT


A California company has quietly attached its software to millions of downloads of the popular Kazaa file-trading program and plans to remotely "turn on" people's PCs, welding them into a new network of its own.
Brilliant Digital Entertainment, a California-based digital advertising technology company, has been distributing its 3D ad technology along with the Kazaa software since late last fall. But in a federal securities filing Monday, the company revealed it also has been installing more ambitious technology that could turn every computer running Kazaa into a node in a new network controlled by Brilliant Digital.

The company plans to wake up the millions of computers that have installed its software in as soon as four weeks. It plans to use the machines--with their owners' permission--to host and distribute other companies' content, such as advertising or music. Alternatively, it might borrow people's unused processing power to help with other companies' complicated computing tasks.

Rest of the article here: http://news.com.com/2100-1023-873181.html

 

THANK YOU, PETE!

I kept showing a "Brilliant Digital Entertainment" in my JV16 PowerTools (RegCleaner) and was wondering what in the heck that was! I had downloaded Kazza recently to see if I could find an mp3 of an out-of-print CD from an obscure movie I liked. I checked, I found, I removed. I had heard enough to know I didn't want Kazza on my computer. Now, one mystery solved.

But, about that ADSS.exe...
I've called Robert Stack.

John

 

You know, it's bad enough these "people" install spyware with their software. Now they want to use people's machines for distributed computing.
People with slower processors are going to have problems with this. My girlfriend installed seti@home on her 500 MHz processor machine and it bogged it down when running all the time. She had to switch it to "when idle" only.
Of course, if someone installs and keep Kazaa despite the widely common knowledge that it installs all sorts of spyware, I have very little sympathy for them.

 

Further interesting reading on this....motives/plans etc:

http://australia.internet.com/r/article/jsp/sid/11741
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/020401/bde.html

 

  I have a lot of BDE files in my registry. Is it safe to say that they are all related to Kazaa and Music City Morph ?
 I've had them both, but got rid of them, but still have traces of BDE in my PC!!  Isn't BDE an intrigual part of some PC games as well ??
                               
                             bill

 

I'd say they are related to one of them, tho I have win mx and Kazaa lite installed on my PC, but no evidence of any files in explorer or registry. See: http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/5077/new/cleankazaa.html

Then:

c:\Windows\BDE (the folder and everything in it)
c:\Windows\Temp\Brilliant (the folder and everything in it)
c:\Windows\SYSTEM\bdedata2.dll
c:\Windows\SYSTEM\bdedownloader.dll
c:\Windows\SYSTEM\bdefdi.dll
c:\Windows\SYSTEM\bdeinsta2.dll
c:\Windows\SYSTEM\bdeinstall.exe
c:\Windows\SYSTEM\bdesecureinstall.cab
c:\Windows\SYSTEM\bdesecureinstall.exe
c:\Windows\SYSTEM\bdeverify.dll
c:\Windows\SYSTEM\bdeverify.exe

Now fire up Regedit and delete the following trails:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.b3ds
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\b3ds_auto_file
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BDESmartInstaller.BDESmartInstaller
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BDESmartInstaller.BDESmartInstaller.1
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{67925165-C4B6-11D2-B9C6-0000E84F59A6}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{82FC7881-AACC-11D2-B9C6-0000E842E40A}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Brilliant Digital Entertainment
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Zupdate

I carnt verify if this will work as I havent tried it.

As usual, backup/export the registry if it screws anything up, and dont completely delete the files out of the recycle bin, incase they need to be restored.

Download and install Kazaa lite as that doesnt seem to harbour spy ware, according to my machine anyway. Keep your eyes on the boards for updates for this tho, as there "could" be some files installed not yet discovered, but it will only take time before someone discovers another spy

 

*****BECAREFUL of some BDE files !!***
The BDE files on my PC are mixed...some are Brilliant Digital Entertainment and some are Borland Database Engine !!!  
 So check properties to be safe !!
       
                          bill

 

Also. I have a lot of "BDE player" values in my registry !
Are they also related to Kazaa and Morph ? {BDE}

                       bill

 

Its hard to say really. If I were you, I would download 2 small free programs which look for spyware/adware. one is called SpyBot  http://beam.to/spybotsd and Adaware  www.adaware.com  Spybot seems good at looking at the registry

 

Thanks, I'll try that route !!
                       bill

 

I have quickly whipped up a small utility to deal with this problem - it will purge your system of the Brilliant Digital software and its registry entries.

See this post: http://www.security-pro.co.uk/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=privacysoftware;action=display;num=1017969919

Enjoy!  

 

WOW Java that's really cool! I don't have any of that stuff on my puter but I've got some friends who just started having connection and speed problems... and they suspected Kazaa... So I sent them to this thread! Hehe now I will tell them to check it out again and utilize your utility! Very cool of you m8!!

 

Thanx Detox for informing me..Ill try that proggie of Javacool.......Anyone know of a filesharing proggie that doe snot do this ugly things?

Got it and run it

 

Hey everybody say hi to my buddy Spider, he's a Dutch mate of mine who I play Delta Force 2 with. He's also a very interesting guy, he used to be a sniper in the Dutch Commando Corps.

 

Hey Spider,

Fellow Dutchie, Welcome here !  

(and in Dutch: hoi Spider, van harte welkom in ons midden!!!) Oops, don't know whether Paul allows me to post in Dutch, sorry Paul, won't happen again  

Hey Detox, thanks for telling me; are you also from Holland?

 

Nope FanJ, I'm the only American on a Dutch team... Strange but we have fun.

 

thanks for the welcome guys.

Yep Detox is from texas.....howdy detox

 

hello guys ! how ya doing ?

thx for all the info ..

ps: i'm also on that dutch team (but i'm the belgian section)

 

Hi Castor,

Welcome neighbour from Belgium.

 

Thx