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
82 Responses
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[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.
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