Google Advertises Adware-Repackaged Software

It turns out that not only Bing and Yahoo! advertise pieces of software repackaged with adware and spyware for profit.

Zscaler researchers came across an ad for a free FLV player on Google Reader that was bundled with shady software that was flagged by 4 security solutions providers as containing adware or spyware.

Experts warn that even reading content from legitimate resources can lead users to unwanted applications, especially when sites include widgets or iframes they have no control over.

“Even trusted third-parties like Google are apparently not succeeding in delivering 100% adware/spyware free content to users,” said Zscaler’s Julien Sorben.

In this case, the download page displayed a disclosure statement which revealed that the free product may include advertisements, but since many users don’t take their time to read the fine print, they can easily end up with an undesired element on their computers.

This is precisely why internauts are advised to download software only directly from the product’s vendor or from trusted locations.