SA free bandwidth campaign launched
Posted on May 31st, 2007 by Richard Catto 3,534 views
These people are spreading a message (by email) that is very dangerous.
They are attempting to persuade people to download some software that they have allegedly written that will do a “network test” of the local South African network.
They say that their software is open source and that the source code will be available for download from their site, along with a self installing program. Big deal. If you install their self installing program, you don’t know whether that program is actually the result of compiling the supplied source code.
What their program is supposed to do is access a list of local sites for about 5 minutes and then uninstall itself.
Fact is, they’re asking you to trust them that all the claims they make are true.
What they describe sounds to me like a DDOS (Distributed Denial Of Service) attack.
Even if they have the best intentions, their “network test” program could quite easily wreak havoc.
Do you really want to risk being part of taking down South Africa’s network?
I think this is madness!
Cool link: Brilliant Bru & Boegie cartoon strip of this story
Filed under bandwidth cap, bandwidth test, DDOS, June 30 2007, network test, SA free bandwidth campaign, Scam |
12 Responses to “SA free bandwidth campaign launched”
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Gavin Says:
May 31st, 2007 at 15:19Yeah I was skeptical at first but they have a point…
Telkom has claimed that their network cannot handle free local so we are going to test it..
if it fails then Telkom has egg on their face before their latest financial results, if it succeeds they lose their excuse on why we cannot have free local.
This has been advertised on http://www.myadsl.co.za which I trust, so even though I am still not 100% sure I will go for it anyway.
Telkom is killing our economy.
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david Says:
May 31st, 2007 at 15:21Yes, exactly dos. 2 sides to this.
1. People download crap all day long, it seems illogical they would have any other reason, taking down telkom seems a fair and worthy goal.
2. Telkom are scum, they are busy ruining US for THEIR profit, they are proudly sa and screw every south african in the country.
3. If what they claim is true, and yes i have heard this before, Telkom are acting illegally. If i did what they’re doing i’ll be imprisoned, as it should be. However the laws don’t work.
If this is what it will take … i’m, game. -
Richard Catto Says:
May 31st, 2007 at 15:33Myadsl.co.za doesn’t know what that program does. They just parroted the press release without analysing it.
There’s every likelihood that this program is a trojan, and that any network test performed will amount to a DDOS.
Have they disclosed the list of sites they intend hitting? No.
Would you like to have your site on their list?
They’re being very irresponsible. They could crash servers all over South Africa.
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Henk Kleynhans Says:
May 31st, 2007 at 18:20I gave the kids my first ever Yeah!Fi Idiot of the Week award…
Check it out at http://www.yeahfi.com/2007/05/idiot-of-week.html
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pickledbushman Says:
May 31st, 2007 at 19:31This is all bad assumption. Do you have a single fact to back up your assumption? Have you run process explorers and network port monitors to see what it is doing?
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pickledbushman Says:
May 31st, 2007 at 20:50There is no evidence that this program is a trojan or a ddos, and assumption otherwise is extremely simple.
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Richard Catto Says:
May 31st, 2007 at 23:27Bushman, the program (and source) is not even available for any analysis.
What’s also interesting is that these folks haven’t said what platforms their program will run on.
Will it run on Windows, Linux and Mac?
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dicky Says:
May 31st, 2007 at 23:52“Will it run on Windows, Linux and Mac?”
http://fbc.org.za/articles/2/1/Senior-Windows-CC—Programmer/Page1.html
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Richard Catto Says:
June 1st, 2007 at 00:15LOL @ Dicky.
Yes, it is as I suspected. They intend only writing for the Windows platform.
And the software hasn’t even been written yet.
Oh well.
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Richard Catto Says:
June 8th, 2007 at 17:47Brilliant cartoon strip of this here:
http://www.bruandboegie.co.za/index.php?date=2007-06-04 -
beseen@email.com Says:
October 9th, 2008 at 08:33Telkom is one of many reasons I’ve decided not to start-up a new business in SA. My business like many others relies on being able to have affordable access to the internet as well as affordable and reliable electricity. Eskom is neither. Good luck my fellow SA’s, I’m sure my small company would be currently employing 20-50 taxpaying employees but I cannot see the advantages of setting up shop in a country controlled by money hungry monopolies who couldn’t care less about working class men and women.
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Richard Catto Says:
October 9th, 2008 at 14:47@beseen@email.com: The lack of cheap, fast, abundant broadband is a limiting factor, I agree. I believe Thabo Mbeki is personally to blame. Hopefully our new government will sort this out soon.
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