Enbrowser's Snack Man Doesn't Munch Spyware- User Beware

by Chris Mannon

Introduction

Enbrowser is the name of a company and develops "free" games as a way to distribute advertisements to the people who download them. The games are advertised as “free”. There are no references to any advertising of any kind on their download page. However under their “About us” section (http://www.enbrowser.com/about.html) we see that that they do state that downloading will result in online advertisements.

Is this just another free game on the internet that displays advertisements or is it bundled with something else? There is evidence to support the claim that these free games also install another software, some debate as a trojan, known as “PacerD”.

This game is distributed by Enbrowser. They have obvious connections with Pacerd Media considering their software is bundled with their free game “SnackMan”. This program is also affliated with Spyware Labs (makers of the notorious Virtual Bouncer).

Installation

The installation of the Enbrowser software is very straight forward. During the installation we see the first EULA from Enbrowser. Their EULA can be viewed from the EULA and Privacy Policy header. The following is a picture of the taskmanager during the installation:

This program is called Addestroyer. It is installed with Snackman.exe. It stays resident in memory.

This .exe file is related to PacerD. It stays resident in memory as well.

This program is related to Enbrowser. In this case it is found in the Program Files\Snackman folder.

The installation method is very straight forward. First you download the installer from http://www.enbrowser.com/products.html.

“enBrowser offers consumers various products that help expand their Internet experience. There is never a cost to download and use any enBrowser product. You can easily download any of current offerings listed below for FREE.”

This was taken from the products URL mentioned in the previous paragraph. This tells the user that they will be offered various products and there is never a cost for them. Indeed cost is a relative term. In reality this version of free equates to the user being "hounded" by two (2) pop-ups every two (2) minutes, and being frequently asked to install PacerD. Even after installing PacerD, the end user will still be hounded to install the software. This is how often you will see the PacerD installation prompt:



ScreenShot: Repeated PacerD Installation Attempts

Once again, please note the number of minimized IE browsers (18 total). In fact, this infection’s main attribute is the crippling number of pop-ups a computer user will receive. The following is a picture of the desktop of a test machine after only 30 minutes of installation:

Many of the pop-ups generated require the latest version of Macromedia Flash to view. Some are even advertisements for rogue anti-spyware products such as the notorious Virtual Bouncer.

The following is taken from their EULA of Snackman:

“8. ADVERTISING. The Software is provided for your use, as described above, free of charge, and is supported by advertising revenue. Snackman is supported by contextual marketing from EnBrowser, the same way free television is supported by advertising. Use of EnBrowser is required for this free version. EnBrowser, provides you with contextually relevant offers and information, including search results, as you surf the Internet. EnBrowser protects your privacy, and requires NO personal information.”

This statement is true. It requires no personal information of any kind to download this program. The only problem is, as stated earlier, the crippling amount of advertisements that must be endured for a "free game" and unlike their television analogy we have never seen televisions invaded with rogue software or the viewing area of the screen covered with numerous advertisements.

Mirar Toolbar Install

This program also installs the Mirar toolbar without any EULA.



Nowhere in their EULA does it say that this Toolbar is part of the advertising suite. Enbrowser does not really display any data collection methods in the classic sense. They do not monitor your search patterns. They do, however, deliver massive numbers of advertisements. So much that frequently the end user, ironically, is not even capable of playing the Snackman game. No where in the EULA does it even mention that information is collected from your computer, but this does not speak for the thirty-three (33) other programs installed with snackman.exe in an action called "daisy-chaining". In total, the figures for this install are as follows:

Adware – 26
Trojan – 4
Data Miner – 1
Worm – 1
Loyaltyware - 1

This is a high price to pay for a game of Snack Man. Take our advice and avoid it. There are better games and better deals elsewhere on the Web that won't cripple your computer with an onslaught of advertisements and mischief.

Unless otherwise noted this article is Copyright © 2008 by FaceTime Communications, Inc. This article may not be resold, reprinted, or redistributed for compensation of any kind without prior written permission from FaceTime Communications, Inc. For reprint or media inquires please contact us with the phrase "Spyware Guide Articles" in the subject line and we will by happy to assist you. Links to this article from other websites are appreciated and encouraged. Users are also encouraged to utilize our RSS system to provide unique content and extracts for their site.

Read other articles (back to full list)