Kazaa

Kazaa

Kazaa was a peer to peer file sharing application most commonly used to exchange MP3 music files. However, it could be used to share a variety of other files as well (videos, applications, documents, etc). Kazaa was shutdown in 2012 and is now inactive.

Illegal Kazaa

Kazaa encountered several legal barriers since its beginning. The owner of Kazaa, Sharman Networks, was sued in various courts and trials (some of which resulting in judgments over $100 million) for knowingly authorizing users to illegally swap copyrighted songs, and causing damage to record labels.

A number of individuals were also caught in the wake of the courts, falling victim to monetary payments of $3,000 from suits filed by the RIAA. Following these trials, Sharmon Networks was given two months to immediately modify the software. However, the company failed to do so, and Kazaa was blocked from users by the Federal Court of Australia.

Legal Kazaa

After the extreme lawsuits, Sharman Networks sold Kazaa to Brilliant Digital Entertainment, Inc. The new company operated Kazaa as a completely legal service, offering users unlimited access to songs for a monthly payment of $19.98. However, songs downloaded off the new server were given limited access to three computers, cannot be put onto a mobile device, and are only accessible with an active subscription.

The RIAA has receded slightly ever since the release of the new server, yet, until the lawsuit is settled, they continue to confront individuals still using unauthorized file sharing programs. They have found that college campuses tend to be large users of the illegal servers, therefore they focus primarily on college campuses. Colleges across the nation (United States) now strongly advise against using these servers for that reason.

Associated Malware Reports

Kazaa had been suspected of installing malware onto user's computers since its birth. However, Sharman Networks claimed that Kazaa was not adware, and did not collect personal user information. Despite the word of Kazaa's previous owner, code containing said malware had been recognized within main workings of the software. Also, if the user tried to uninstall some of the malware, they would be notified that Kazaa is unusable and must be reinstalled, thus doing more damage to their computers. Also, Kazaa was also known to not uninstall completely. It left behind executables, the Kazaa installer, and all the malware it initially installed.

Malware Installed by Kazaa

1. B3D (Adware): An add-on which causes advertising popups if the PC accesses a website which triggers the B3D code.
2. Altnet (Adware): a distribution network for paid "gold" files
3. The Best Offers (Adware): tracks your browsing habits and internet usage to display advertisements similar to your interests
4. TopSearch (Adware): Displays paid songs and media related to your search in Kazaa
5. Cydoor (Spyware): Collects info on the PC's surfing habits and passes it on to the company which created Cydoor
6. RX Toolbar (Spyware): The toolbar monitors all the sites you visit with Internet Explorer and provides links to competitors' websites
7. InstaFinder (Hijacker): Redirects your URL typing errors to InstaFinder's web page instead of the standard search page
8. New.net(Hijacker): A browser plugin that lets you access several of its own unofficial Top Level Domain Names.