GGG. About your spyware.

"

Prisus wrote:

LOL at first response

For everything about the replies to this post...disappearing pencil trick after this...

Update, the latest j patch adds to the spyware capabilities of Client.exe with, among other things, calls to the CreateToolhelp32Snapshot API, which "Takes a snapshot of the specified processes, as well as the heaps, modules, and threads used by these processes.".

This is now firmly across the line drawn by EU law, especially German law, and getting rather close to possible legal challenges in the US. Various privacy right activist agencies have been made aware of the situation and the game is already on some watchlists circulating among stateside security consultants.

It is ironic that in a misguided, ill-informed, and ultimately doomed attempt to stop 'blackhat' hacker made cheat and bot programs, GGG has now come to the attention of the 'whitehat' crowd as they continue to sneak possibly malicious code onto your computers.

For the 'not a problem if you have nothing to hide' ostrich crowd, I suggest following the experiment at the end of this article: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/it-security/why-you-really-should-care-about-privacy/ to figure out why everyone has something to hide in this day and age.

I'm currently evaluating the possible purchase of SpyShelter Premium to lock PoE's client into a nice safe little box, barring that its either find a lightweight VM to run it in, possibly just wait till Windows 10 with its improvements upon 8.1's AppLocker security system, or just forget about PoE altogether.

Truthfully I'm probably going to just choose the last option. It is a shame, the money I was considering donating to GGG will now either go into something like SpyShelter or some other similar solution if I decide to reinstall at some point.

My 2c worth.

It's always funny when people complain about privacy but still use Windows for everything.

My advice if you want privacy: You should do everything on open software such as linux and reserve Windows only for games.

"

patlefort3 wrote:

It's always funny when people complain about privacy but still use Windows for everything.

My advice if you want privacy: You should do everything on open software such as linux and reserve Windows only for games.

Who says I use Windows for everything? I had PoE installed on my laptop which is my only Windows box, unfortunately due to being retired and on a fixed income I can't afford a separate stand alone gaming rig.

That said, your advice is great *if* you can afford to do it.

Anyone know how badly broken is PoE on linux these days?

"

patlefort3 wrote:

It's always funny when people complain about privacy but still use Windows for everything.

My advice if you want privacy: You should do everything on open software such as linux and reserve Windows only for games.

And what if that game is only available on Windows and actively piercing through your privacy? What would you do then smart guy? Stop playing? What an ideal solution, huh!

Think a little before irrelevantly bashing Windows. Most games support windows only. That doesn't mean they should be able to do whatever the fuck they want though. And like it or not, Windows owns the world. And it's not gonna change anytime soon.

There is software on microsoft website "Process monitor".
Just download, add in filters exe files from gamefolder and you'll see all what program use and do. All activity except network (just connections!).

For the 1st tune filter:
i've excluded all requests to C:\Windows\SysWOW64\* folder.

In my case Poe:
-walked into "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared" folder and subfolders
-walked into "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office" and subfolders
-Opened "C:\Soft" and "C:\Soft\OpenVPN"....

But after was little strange activity I cant exlaint why, so i'll attach some screenshots. IUf someone can explain, it will be great. It seems at it searched file D3DREF9.DLL everywhere:
PoE_log_001.png
PoE_log_002.png
PoE_log_003.png

On one image we can see PATH NOT FOUND, it mean that PoE didn't fond PATH, because i've removed this programm manually and it mean, that PoE client GOT list of INSTALLED programms.

Same time it was tonnes of activity in registry. Network, hardware etc.

So it will be great if someone will test client in procmon and someone who KNOW what to check, because since start till login PoE made 121k events (30k network and 20k registry).

Same time with wireshark and local proxy you can detect traffic, but if traffic encrypted (not checked, but im sure) - you'll need proxy with your own MiTM, to see raw information or packets.

"

DirkAustin wrote:

Or that people install or run software that searches their drive. Also no one here knows the difference between actual spyware and what GGG does.

That is exactly the point. No one knows the difference. Evidently you are supposed to trust GGG and security at their end to protect your privacy. I might have been tempted to do that if they hadn't snuck this crap onto our computers without asking or notifying. After that, they lost any and all trust they had ever accumulated in my bank. They don't trust me... I sure as hell don't trust them either.

My 2c worth.

"

againwetryagain wrote:

"

patlefort3 wrote:

It's always funny when people complain about privacy but still use Windows for everything.

My advice if you want privacy: You should do everything on open software such as linux and reserve Windows only for games.

Who says I use Windows for everything? I had PoE installed on my laptop which is my only Windows box, unfortunately due to being retired and on a fixed income I can't afford a separate stand alone gaming rig.

That said, your advice is great *if* you can afford to do it.

Anyone know how badly broken is PoE on linux these days?

I wasn't talking specifically about you. I don't understand the if you can afford part. Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, etc) is free. You can dual boot with Windows.

"

rockmassif wrote:

And what if that game is only available on Windows and actively piercing through your privacy? What would you do then smart guy? Stop playing? What an ideal solution, huh!

Think a little before irrelevantly bashing Windows. Most games support windows only. That doesn't mean they should be able to do whatever the fuck they want though. And like it or not, Windows owns the world. And it's not gonna change anytime soon.

You dual boot. What is the program going to get if all you do on Windows is play a few games? It won't have much to steal.

Windows doesn't own the world, it owns the desktop/laptop. Pretty much everything else is dominated by linux, unixes or others.

"

addiaboli wrote:

There is software on microsoft website "Process monitor".
Just download, add in filters exe files from gamefolder and you'll see all what program use and do. All activity except network (just connections!).

For the 1st tune filter:
i've excluded all requests to C:\Windows\SysWOW64\* folder.

In my case Poe:
-walked into "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared" folder and subfolders
-walked into "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office" and subfolders
-Opened "C:\Soft" and "C:\Soft\OpenVPN"....

But after was little strange activity I cant exlaint why, so i'll attach some screenshots. IUf someone can explain, it will be great. It seems at it searched file D3DREF9.DLL everywhere:
PoE_log_001.png
PoE_log_002.png
PoE_log_003.png

On one image we can see PATH NOT FOUND, it mean that PoE didn't fond PATH, because i've removed this programm manually and it mean, that PoE client GOT list of INSTALLED programms.

Same time it was tonnes of activity in registry. Network, hardware etc.

So it will be great if someone will test client in procmon and someone who KNOW what to check, because since start till login PoE made 121k events (30k network and 20k registry).

Same time with wireshark and local proxy you can detect traffic, but if traffic encrypted (not checked, but im sure) - you'll need proxy with your own MiTM, to see raw information or packets.

I wouldn't advise anyone that doesn't understand Windows in depth to use that program. People will freak out over nothing.

In your screenshot, it seem to me that PoE is searching for D3DREF9.DLL in all the folders defined in your PATH environment variable, which is normal when an executable wants to use a DLL.