7Search.com Sues McAfee for Labeling it a Spyware Company

A not so familiar company named 7Search.com is legally fighting against a leading anti-malware firm's accusation that it is a spyware company.

According to a filing of case in the court on August 25, 2008, Chicago-based 7Search.com complained that security firm McAfee has been continuously falsely and incorrectly suggesting to the public that the 7Search.com Website contains spyware, adware or other PUP (potentially unwanted programs) though it knows that the site has no software at all.

Meanwhile, the analysis system of McAfee's SiteAdvisor site gives 7Search.com an 'X rating', saying that credible users' feedback suggests that the site's downloads possibly contain malware.

Furthermore, 7Search.com complains that its customers, who have registered accounts with 7Search.com, have terminated their business relationship with the company, owing to McAfee's confusing, misleading and deceptive statements about 7Search.com.

Now, 7Search wants that McAfee gives it a better rating and change rating from red to green. It also asks McAfee to remove any references on SiteAdvisor that it is associated with spyware adware, or viruses.

Nevertheless, according to McAfee analysts, they have classified 7Search.com as mlaware-infected site because it is associated with the controversial BrowserAccelator search toolbar. This toolbar is known as 7FaSSt for Internet Explorer sends users statistics to fstrack.7search.com. According to few other security companies like Computer Associates and Kaspersky, the 7search toolbar serves as spyware or adware.

Thus, on the basis of its analysis and reports of users, SiteAdvisor makes a special domain report that warns people of the dangerous or dubious content of 7Search. As already known, SiteAdvisor occasionally picks the top legitimate domains and labels them as potentially risky. For some time, it had been classifying heise.de as suspicious on account of Heise Security's harmless browsercheck.

Nonetheless 7Search.com does admit that it has a connection with 7FaSST Toolbar, a sample tool for hijacking, although it says that the Toolbar hasn't been there on its site since 2003.

7Search.com, which has filed its suit in the US District Court of Illinois, is seeking monetary compensation to damages caused and a court order for McAfee's SiteAdvisor to designate 7Search.com as safe.

» SPAMfighter News - 10-09-2008

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