aXXo Torrents Exploited by Malware Peddlers
Written by enigmax on April 28, 2007When someone becomes a success by earning the admiration of their peers, there will always be the ‘hangers on’ who want to share the spoils of success. For aXXo, the most popular DVD ripper on BitTorrent, it’s about people using his name to further their own, sinister aim: to install malware on as many file-sharers machines as possible.
With an estimated one million people downloading aXXo rips every month, aXXo is very popular with BitTorrent fans all over the world. But as is so often the case, fame comes at a price and it’s almost inevitable that people will jump onto the back of other’s success and use it for their own aims.
Back in January, the MPAA were caught uploading fake torrents labeled up as proper aXXo releases with the goal to collect IP-addresses.
The last few months we have seen a new player enter the ‘give aXXo a bad name’ market, and pirates who have experienced the scenario detailed below will be only too aware of how unpleasant it is;
1. Download a .torrent file you think is a proper one from aXXo
2. Discover the movie is in not in the correct .avi format but a .rar archive
3. .rar file is passworded and the password can be found by installing software called BitGrabber.
4. Installing the software does not provide a password but instead installs malware.
According to an administrator on the BitComet forums, BitGrabber is the same software as BitRoll, which we reported on back in 2006. Instances of the swizzor aka lop malware can come from installing BitGrabber. Anyone whose PC is infected should follow these removal instructions.
Genuine aXXo releases are tracked by a well known tracker, and generally look like this;
1. Most aXXo releases are just under 700mb but no more than 900mb
2. All releases are labeled with these conventions:
name of movie[year]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo.avi
name of movie[year]DvDrip.AC3[Eng]-aXXo.avi
3. The release will include two other files;
IMPORTANT.Read carefully before you enjoy this movie.txt
movienamehere-aXXo.nfo
Confirmed aXXo torrents can be found here and here, and it’s always helpful to read the user comments on the site where you downloaded the .torrent. Please be aware that most aXXo torrents are copyrighted, downloading these files is not allowed in some countries.
Maybe the_dwarfer could update the aXXo Prayer to include lines about fakes and malware.
Previously: Streaming and Downloading Torrents in Firefox
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Perhaps aXXo could use GnuPG or any other PGP application so downloaders could verify the authenticity?
Of course this process is rather complex for the newbie, but it could prove handy in avoiding these fake torrents.
Compass.
Im surprised this guy(s?) hasnt been added to the FBI top 10.
How has he maintained his anonymity this whole time?
As for the fakes / malware. youve got to be real stupid to connet to a fake aXXo torrent;
Everyone downloading ripped’ movies should know the 3 files that come with the torrent.
And downloading a RAR torrent is plain stupid, especially for movies.
However people will never learn! :)
My friend downloaded fake aXXo rip and was really pissed off, but fortunately he didn’t install this crap, that came with it.
i love axxo and his torrents. he is great for the torrent community. always, good luck axxo.
Another reason for PeerGuardian2… Im pretty sure it can deal with these programs etc..
#1 Compass
what do you need a key for?
if the torrentfile isn’t uploaded by the user axxo http://thepiratebay.org/user/axxo/ then it is simply to be treated as a fake and should not be downloaded.
Simple that is!
Even MS in their 10 laws of security acknowledge that you should not eat sandwitches from unknown sandwitch makers.
The BT specs make it safe that once you can be sure that he is the creator of the torrentfile you are about to load in your client, that you get what you expect.
Yatti:
PeerGuardian 2 will only block black-listed IPs, it doesn’t filter the files you chose to download. If you download a fake aXXo torrent PG2 will do nothing to stop it.
This is why I always use either my Mac or my Ubuntu server to download/unpack/check my torrents.
I have to agree that its the client which is the problem, not the nerds messing the scene up with malware.
Why the hell download a rar file, install some weird-assed programs and visit a shabby german pr0nsite for some pass if youre after a movie in the first place… Thats just plain stupid, and people SHOULD realise that.
i’m with spankbot. ubuntu/osx is the only way.
this is but a SYMPTOM of the REAL problem which is windows. seriously, the title of this story could and should be “windows exploited by malware peddlers”. why stick with an os that attracts flies and other bugs? sure, if you want to have other apps running in the background 24/7 eating resources and constantly giving the registry an enema, go for it. i did. for years. i have need of nothing from redmond. nada. with ubuntu and osx my machines run at full strength, rarely need reboots (only once every 2 weeks or so if that) and are as fresh today as they were they were “born”.
just my .02
If you’re dumb enough to install a suspicious program, you deserve the malware.
This has little or nothing to do with Windows’ problems. Bad people will always find ways of doing bad things to good people. That’s just how it works.
However, I must say I am astonished that people are *still* being fooled by the fakes. I mean, c’mon. Spotting them isn’t exactly rocket science. We get people in #EZTV *daily* who have downloaded fakes, and that just cracks me up - they manage to get on IRC *and* find our channel, but they do NOT manage to *use our site* to avoid any and all danger of getting a fake release? Seriously…never underestimate the general stupidity of the average internet user.
Windows is certainly not the problem.
Here are the problems:
1) Karma
2) The Source (see 1 to feel better)
3) knowledge-lacking Users
To whoever said they use OSX or Ubuntu, my deepest, most sincere apologies that you’re using a playskool OS or server OS, respectively.
And since I’m running 29 processes, over a dozen applications, and I multi-task relentlessly, I’m going to want to use an OS (Windows) that’s actually OTPIMIZED/DESIGNED for more than just single-tasking.
I dont like the sentence claiming the fake axxo site, people dont know the story, dont talk about it then.
there is nothing wrong with rar’s.
everything i download is rarred and follows the strict scene rules..
and after 20 years i still haven’t come across a single virus.
stupid people tho’ i come across alot.
re: “there is nothing wrong with rar’s”
torrent files have a checksum system in them - they dont need to be rarred! its a waste of time and energy.
also what do you do with ur rar when you extracted it? yes most people delete the rar file to save themselves harddrive space. and you cant upload a deleted rar file
Billy -
You fool. Ubuntu and OSX (BSD) are both based on Unix which has been optimised for multi-tasking longer than MS have even been writing operating systems! Why do you think Linux is so strong in the server market? Research your facts before spouting off mate.
http://83.149.99.14/forums/index.php
Check the axxo section (registration need :/), he posts his torrents himself, with all the info.
I take it you don’t realize, that on a default install of IE6 and Windows XP, your site displays *black text* on a *black background*?
aXXo is working for the FBI. Its a ploy to collect IPs and infiltrate trackers in order to take down the whole system in one giant swoop.
It’s true you must only download from trusted sources. I only download Axxo rips from demonoid, and no where else.
“software called BitGrabber. Installing the software does not provide a password but instead installs malware.”
If anyone else did this they’d go to jail. Amazing what the MPAA can get away with. Which Congressmen do they contribute to? Name and shame.
iggywig: so true. and windows wasn’t even a real multitasking OS for a long time, slow as hell i tell you.
if anyone still remember the old times, every windows OS ran upon DOS which is so fucking not multitasking something can be until NT came along. but it was first when XP was released that the mainstream computer user owned a true multitasking OS! unix and linux on the other hand have always been a so called multitasking OS, and they are still better at it, yes for real.
still, i am using xp because im more productive with it, i have been using it for so many years now that i know it like my own pocket, something i need to because i act as support for it.
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