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Many of the videos can possible be risky to open!!!
BriannospamGame (SKN1)
Posts: 1,803
Since it in my eyes seems like GGS are totaly don't care about our computers safety(*), I have decided to open this thread, and in this post I'll tell you why some of the video can be a security risk, and try to learn you how to protect yourself as good as possible, and how you can see when a third party video trying to save 3'rd party stuff on your computer.
(*) several players including myself have asked about the secuty in these videos...GGS have not answered
- I have several times posted information about some of the videos trying make changes on my computer, even I never have open any of the videos, and give links to documtation where we can read some of the websites the videos want us to visit are risky sites, and GGS have never answer me on these complaints, and not eighter GGS have removed these risky videos from the list of videos they want us to see.
First and most important, I'll try to learn you how to protect yourself against possible attacks from unsafe 3'party videos and 3'party sites....
And if you already know and using all the methods I'll tell you about..That's super!
(then just jump over my following information about how to protect yourself.
- - - - - -
First of all, of course it's very important you have a good antivirus program installed on your computer! (I think and hope that all of you know this, and I mention it only for completeness, so as not somebody comes and saying that I forgot to tell about this )
I use Avast antivirus, but there also many other antivirus programs and many of them you can get both as freeware and pay-versions.
It's also very important you always keep your computer updated. I think most computer systems automictly search for updates, and install new updates. (Again, (I think and hope that all of you know this, and I mention it only for completeness, so as not somebody comes and saying that I forgot to tell about this )
As an added security you can optionally also install an "add-ware find and remove" program.
I also recommend that you set your browser to block the 3'die party cookies and data!
For the Google Chrome browser, you do that by this way:
Unfortunately, I have learned that these precautions are not enough ... There are still some of these videos are in one way or another have found a loophole to make changes on my PC! - I'll come back to that in the following informations and lessons!
- - - - - -
Now where I have setup Chromne to block for 3'party cookies and data, Chrome tells me when a when the website I'm on trying to save 3'rd party stuff on my computer with this symbol in the right side of the adress line with this symbol:
To find out more about what the browser have blocked, I now right-click at that symbol, at then I get a menu where I choose "Show cookies and other website data"...
Now I get a boks that first showing me which cookies and data my blocking not have stooped, so they also have make changes on my computer. Here's a dump from yesterday:
The bigfarm.goodgamestudios.com should be ok - I hope although I gradually since video of introduction is starting to lose confidence to GGS.
But what about that thing from cm.g.doubleclick.net I have marked with blue background? - that's a 3'rd party 'cookie?' the browser setting should have stopped, but anyway it have sneaked into my computer - That should not could happen, but it happen anyway, and that I find very suspiciously.
There, now let's try to search some information about cm.g.doubleclick.net... I simply open a new tab in my browser, and here I type in this search string:
is cm.g.doubleclick.net safe
And I get a lot of links, here is the first of them:
http://blog.mitechmate.com/cm-g-doubleclick-net-removal/
Yikessss!!! - I very happy I never see these videos, when alone that they are i waiting position is enough for them to make changes on my computer!
Try read the information on http://blog.mitechmate.com/cm-g-doubleclick-net-removal/, and try to understand why I find it risky to open these 3'party videos
Furthermore I think many of the videos where people complains the video redirect them to other websites, are videos that contians things like eg. cm.g.doubleclick.net
Of course I now manually set my browser to block for cm.g.doubleclick.net
But we are not finish yet...
Now I'll like to see what the browser have blocked, and here is what it blocked yesterday:
That list is so long I need to scroll to se it all, and therefore I have split it up into 4 pictures:
Now I search for a few of these names, and I have marked 2 of them with red dots and here is what I find about them:
bcp.crwdcntrl.net gives this result: http://www.scamadviser.com/is-bcp.crwdcntrl.net-safe.html
And here is result for ad.turn.com: http://www.enigmasoftware.com/adturncom-removal/ - Yiikeess again
I hope some of you find my information interesting and maybe also usefull, and I hope you at least now understand why I never will open any of these 3'party videos GGS send us..
- else... you are welcome to call me a paranoia about computer safety, I'll not blame you for that.
(*) several players including myself have asked about the secuty in these videos...GGS have not answered
- I have several times posted information about some of the videos trying make changes on my computer, even I never have open any of the videos, and give links to documtation where we can read some of the websites the videos want us to visit are risky sites, and GGS have never answer me on these complaints, and not eighter GGS have removed these risky videos from the list of videos they want us to see. First and most important, I'll try to learn you how to protect yourself against possible attacks from unsafe 3'party videos and 3'party sites....
And if you already know and using all the methods I'll tell you about..That's super!
(then just jump over my following information about how to protect yourself. - - - - - -
How to protect your computer against malware
Ok, here goes:First of all, of course it's very important you have a good antivirus program installed on your computer! (I think and hope that all of you know this, and I mention it only for completeness, so as not somebody comes and saying that I forgot to tell about this
)I use Avast antivirus, but there also many other antivirus programs and many of them you can get both as freeware and pay-versions.
It's also very important you always keep your computer updated. I think most computer systems automictly search for updates, and install new updates. (Again, (I think and hope that all of you know this, and I mention it only for completeness, so as not somebody comes and saying that I forgot to tell about this
)As an added security you can optionally also install an "add-ware find and remove" program.
I also recommend that you set your browser to block the 3'die party cookies and data!
For the Google Chrome browser, you do that by this way:
Unfortunately, I have learned that these precautions are not enough ... There are still some of these videos are in one way or another have found a loophole to make changes on my PC!
- I'll come back to that in the following informations and lessons!- - - - - -
How to see when a website trying to change your computer with 3'rd party cookies and data
Now where I have setup Chromne to block for 3'party cookies and data, Chrome tells me when a when the website I'm on trying to save 3'rd party stuff on my computer with this symbol in the right side of the adress line with this symbol:
To find out more about what the browser have blocked, I now right-click at that symbol, at then I get a menu where I choose "Show cookies and other website data"...
Now I get a boks that first showing me which cookies and data my blocking not have stooped, so they also have make changes on my computer. Here's a dump from yesterday:
The bigfarm.goodgamestudios.com should be ok
- I hope although I gradually since video of introduction is starting to lose confidence to GGS.But what about that thing from cm.g.doubleclick.net I have marked with blue background? - that's a 3'rd party 'cookie?' the browser setting should have stopped, but anyway it have sneaked into my computer
- That should not could happen, but it happen anyway, and that I find very suspiciously.There, now let's try to search some information about cm.g.doubleclick.net... I simply open a new tab in my browser, and here I type in this search string:
is cm.g.doubleclick.net safe
And I get a lot of links, here is the first of them:
http://blog.mitechmate.com/cm-g-doubleclick-net-removal/
Yikessss!!!
- I very happy I never see these videos, when alone that they are i waiting position is enough for them to make changes on my computer!Try read the information on http://blog.mitechmate.com/cm-g-doubleclick-net-removal/, and try to understand why I find it risky to open these 3'party videos
Furthermore I think many of the videos where people complains the video redirect them to other websites, are videos that contians things like eg. cm.g.doubleclick.net
Of course I now manually set my browser to block for cm.g.doubleclick.net
But we are not finish yet...
Now I'll like to see what the browser have blocked, and here is what it blocked yesterday:
That list is so long I need to scroll to se it all, and therefore I have split it up into 4 pictures:
Now I search for a few of these names, and I have marked 2 of them with red dots and here is what I find about them:
bcp.crwdcntrl.net gives this result: http://www.scamadviser.com/is-bcp.crwdcntrl.net-safe.html
And here is result for ad.turn.com: http://www.enigmasoftware.com/adturncom-removal/ - Yiikeess again
I hope some of you find my information interesting and maybe also usefull, and I hope you at least now understand why I never will open any of these 3'party videos GGS send us..
- else... you are welcome to call me a paranoia about computer safety, I'll not blame you for that.
10
Comments
I had no idea how to switch off third party cookies in chrome (and that you could in the first place lol), cheers to your focused screenshots and guide I was able to figure it out even though they are not in English
Happy farming!
Will be passing this post onto my coop for them to read. Thank you again for looking out for the farming community.
I don't have access to the videos yet.
Enoch
It certainly looks like that they could not care less if our PC get infected, if we are being tracked in our browsing history, and if 3rd parties copy files on our PC.... as long as those 3rd parties pay them to do so
I do not have those videos and I DO NOT WANT them. GGS, please provide as soon as possible the functionality to refuse them
PS: One praise I have to address to Big Farm though: their implementation of advertising on this game is being done in a brilliant way. Going from users not wanting it at the original announcement to many of them now "demanding" those videos is quite a marketing achievement: Creating rarity and working hard on the sense of unfairness that stems from extending that rarity was simply brilliant.
What many people do not know is that many online games are doing the same thing. It isn't just GGS. I know these steps to protect my computer, tho I haven't been very diligent lately.
This trend of adware combined with malware and sneaky practices has been happening for a long time. I learned more than I ever want to know about internet sneakiness when I worked for an internet marketing company.
GGS, like many companies, contracts with specific marketing/ad companies to run ads for them. I recognize some of those names. GGS needs to fastidiously monitor the ads. However most companies get complacent about the problem, so that is why it is so prevalent around the internet. This is also why anti-virus and anti-malware software is making a lot of money for those companies that make them.
Most people online do not protect their computers and do not actively clean their computers, because they have no idea how pervasive advertising is online. Nor do most people know how companies can modify their computers to track what they do online.
Online advertising and collecting data about users is a big business. Allowed to become really huge because most people are unaware of the fact that they are basically prey whenever they are online. I hope people do more research into protect their computers, data, and personal information when online - there is much to learn.
But earlier today, I see this message in several minutes at the bottom of my Chrome browser when the game runs slowly here:
Translating the danish text in the message box: Waiting for video.unrulymedia.com
And no, there is none reports telling video.unrulymedia.com are unsafe.... yet!
I just don't like I several times have seen block reports for 3'rd party where unrulymedia are present.
Edit
And to you cheshi: (you write your post at the same time I write this post)
Thank very very much for your very important information which confirms my suspicions that we should be very suspicious of these videos!
Here is what GGS promised in announcement and in the game (see screenshot if you can)
I still do not know how to make the screenshot load in this message. Someone feel free to mail me directions since I am such a computer goof
Maybe there is a correlation, however I have no clue about programming bugs and somesuch so who knows.
The videos have to come from somewhere, guys, and it's not the GGS page
Of course we'd never allow installing of 3rd party software, potential harm or even viruses or other software to be installed on your PC through our game. If you don't trust us with this, you can of course freely decide to not use the video feature at all.
I don't have videos yet and am very glad of it. I am not looking forward to having these things trying to install information on my computer. Please give us the option to disable the videos if we don't want them.
The Big Farm cookie from the same picture is of course the one from Big Farm, but doesn't have anything to do with the videos - it stores your Login data for convenience.
Furthermore, the various issues regarding performance of the game don't have anything to do with the videos either, they're caused by our implementation of a new game engine ("Starling") that has still some quirks we're figuring out. We will update a quick hotfix tomorrow that should solve a lot of these issues, hopefully.
I sincerely, completely, totally agree. I also hope your reassurances are accurate, not like the one that said videos would not direct us off-site when this was announced.
About files being downloaded to your computer, @Latten. What is being mentioned here is not completely right. Every webpage you're visiting is being cached! (=saved onto your computer)
Quoted from wikipedia.
About 3rd party cookies, every website (supersonicads, unrulymedia, ... ) is allowed to place cookies onto your pc with advertisement information. If you're looking at the content of such a cookies, you won't get anything of it. Most of the times it's just a weird number. But with this, the server knows what you have done on their website. That number is the only thing they need to know to find out what advertismeents you've watched during the last days. If you have entered personal information (supersonicads do serve these ads as well, but I haven't seen any so far as GGS ad), it will be known because of that number. You're being followed because of that cookie.
To come to a conclusion,
1) DISALLOW 3rd party COOKIES!
2) VIDEOS being served by either supersonicads or unrulymedia or any 3rd party company that is associated with supersonicads is the most common and most safe way to get credits through "FREE" channels. Say thanks to GGS for making this possible for those who want it. Some of us - not everybody
3) As long as you don't see any advertisments that require you to fill in your personal information or to install some kind of software, then you're safe. Watching a video isn't really 'dangerous'. If you're getting a register screen, just leave the page without filling something in - I hope that everybody is smart enough to reject that offer. Also if you're being asked to install software on either your pc or smartphone. Don't download these ones. They are not worth it. If it's being downloaded automatically, remove the file (shift + delete) without running it.
@ the owner of this topic, you did a great job with mentioning these tips. These are a good way to be safer on the net. I also recommened installing adblock for more general purposes. These will prevent the cookies which you marked in red and used in this example. Those are not placed by GGS or the video advertisment service GGS is using but got probably placed when visiting another website. Although some others cookies in the list were placed by the advertisment service.
@ latten. The feedback given should be important. Thanks for taking your time to read through this
It's also correct that it's not GGS who produce these videos
It's exacly the same principle we se in the supermarkets... How many of the products in the supermarket do you think that the supermarket produce itself?
The supermarket buying products from wholesalers or directly by the producer, and sells the products to the supermarkets customers.
smart to write the last section: "If you don't trust us with this, you can of course freely decide to not use the video feature at all."
- On that way you have yours (both your own and GGS's) back free if somebody instead getting a harmless video, being sent to a risky site and there being infected with virus or other types of malware. (It was the same as if you have say: "At that moment we trying to open a video, it is our own responsibility"
You are confused because you mixes two different things together.
The picture where I show my browser wait for an answer from an wedaddress is an answer to this post:
When I answered "Maybe? - I'm not sure...." it would have been better if I have used a little more time to fully write what I mean: "I thought I do not know about these videos is the reason that the game provides many problems with the speed at the moment"
So that part of this thread is actually not topic in this thread, it belongs into another thread where the topic is problems with the game speed.
Every times I want begin playing bigfarm, of course I open my browser. I have set my browser to use www.google.dk as start-page
- and that website do never send me 3'rd part stuff!
Before start bigfarm, I always first clean my cache by hold down the CTRL and hit the F5 key to be sure when the game start, it start with the newest updates installed, so there is at this moment no cookies or other stuff in the cache from other sites.
Let's try doing a test where I now after have open my chrome browser, instead the clear cache with CTRL F5, in the browser setting menu totaly clean my browser by using the "clear history and browser data"
Now my browser should be cleaned for cookies and data from other sites... agree?
But to be sure, let's take a look at it:
Yes, everything looks ok, only things stored at my pc is coming from my browsers start-page (www.googledk), and that's ok to me, I have thrust to that site, else I would not use it as start-page.
Now I want to play Bigfarm, so I click at my bookmark for open the game and get this:
Normaly when I use the CTRL F5, the game now would begin running.
But that not happen this time, because I have totaly cleared the browsers cache and data, therefore I now first may put in my username and password, before the game can begin.
Notice that, there is not a warning icon in the rihgt side of the address line!
That may prove my browser still should be clean for cookies and other types of 3'party stuff?
But but but... this is the login page where I have to put in my login data...
I don't like there in the code seems to be some stuff from other sites than Bigfarm
But ok, even I'm not sure it's wise, I take the risk and put in my login data, so the game can begin:
Wow, now there suddenly is lots of 3'rd party stuff my browser have blocked!
- And thats before I have closed the "Racing farmer" !!!
Will now anybody continues claiming all these 3'rd party things is not stuff was distributed by the bigfarm game?
Will now anybody claiming that, if not I have setup my browser to block for 3'rd party stuff, these thing would be stored on my pc even I not have open any videos?
Edit: added comments:
If anybody out would like to know a little about from where I have my knowledge about all these technical and advanced stuff I'm talking about... Visit my forum profile, by clicking at my name.
I'll not claim I'm a computer expert - I'm a long way from that, and I would wish I know a lot more about these things than I know ... that's also why I search information about things I don't know and use these informations I find as documention for what I'm saying.
But I'll claim I know lot more about these technical and advanced things than most adault people older than 30 years.
I do not know how much advanced computer technical knowledge is necesarry to have for being a Community Manager?
But I'l say, as long we are talking about all the normal game learning in old game stuff (before we get the videos), the Community doing a great job... when else they have time to answer user questions about the game.
But I also thinking that, the Community Managers maybe not always know what they talking about, when they say Bigfarm do never distribuate suspect 3'rd party stuff that will be stored on our computers, if we not protect us self as good as possible.
- I do not eighter expect that everybody who have a driver license and a car, can repair the cars motor if the motor is broken.
Waiting for the game to come back from maintenance, I hope this fix actually fixes something.