I’m experiencing trouble accessing a spy software service that my wife and I have purchased to monitor our teenager’s computer and internet use. I suspect the issue is being caused by Avast and was hoping to get assistance in remedying the issue.
Has computer monitoring services become filtered by Avast? ??? The website in question is Remote Spy: http://www.remotespy.com
ScanDoo does not rate the site as being good. See first image below.
Avast does block the site. See second image below.
Information from Symantec on this spyware :
http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2008-091210-4552-99&tabid=1
http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2008-091210-4552-99&tabid=2
Interestingly if the network shield is paused the web shield doesn’t find anything on this page.
Nor does http://linkscanner.explabs.com/linkscanner/checksite.aspx?NS=ChkOnly&SRC=apps.explabs.com&CS=http://www.remotespy.com/ and https://safeweb.norton.com/report/show?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.remotespy.com%2F&x=17&y=9.
WOT doesn’t like it either, http://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/remotespy.com.
However there is more reasons to be suspicious, this one I found most interesting, http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:RBXEMShcL8IJ:www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0823160/081106cyberspytro.pdf+remotespy.com&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=35&client=firefox-a a temporary restraining order.
3. The complaint states a claim upon which relief may be granted against Defendants under Section 5(a) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45(a); 4. Defendants have marketed and sold “RemoteSpy,” a remotely deployed keylogger software program that can be installed without the knowledge or consent of the owner or authorized user of a computer. Defendants provide RemoteSpy customers with instructions and examples for how to disguise the software as an innocuous file in order to send the software to another computer and trick the owner or authorized user of the computer into installing the software. Once installed, RemoteSpy sends information, including all keystrokes typed, passwords used, and websites visited, from the computer to Defendants’ Internet servers. Defendants provide access to such information to RemoteSpy customers. Once installed on a computer, the owner or authorized user of the computer cannot readily locate or uninstall RemoteSpy on his own;
So it looks like avast was correct in blocking the site.
How do we fix this problem? We have used the remote spy website for approximately 8 months now and have come to rely on it for keeping a watchful eye on our son’s internet activity. During this time we have not received any viruses or malware.
Why would Avast choose to block a computer monitoring website that to my knowledge has no malware or malicious scripts on it? This is a problem, as we need to login to the website to review our son’s internet history and to see any dangerous keyword alerts.
Update: The latest Avast update has resolved the issue, thank you kindly Avast! 