Cookies, anyone?

[Bill Sanderson]

From a scan result I found today. Build .615, definitions 5777, I believe.

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GoToMyPC.com

Type: Cookie

Threat Level: Low

Description: Certain cookies are designed to be shared among multiple
unrelated sites for the purpose of tracking a user's usage and browsing
patterns, gathering and sharing private user information or used for
demographic based advertising.

Advice: Low-risk items have little potential for adverse effect, but users
may wish to examine the item further.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

The default action was quarantine, as I recall, fwiw.

 

[Guest]

Bill,

After successfully using both MS AntiSpyware and GoToMyPC for the last year,
this week I received the same cookie warning. I re-set MS AntiSpyware to
"Always Ignore" the GoToMyPC cookie.

Do you agree? What did you do?

Why is this just now popping up? Was there a recent change to either
GoToMyPC or MS AntiSpyware?

Thanks.

Craig

 

[Bill Sanderson]

I don't think that the cookie is a significant threat--but you might want to
ask GoToMyPC about it. I need to ask the user of the machine I found that
cookie on what it was about--I don't believe it was reachable via
GoToMyPC--it's behind a software firewall I administer.

I suspect that this indicates a couple of things: 1) Microsoft Antispyware
is now flagging some cookies--presumably based on some clear objective
criteria, perhaps from the deliberations of the antispyware.org
organization. 2) This particular cookie is not properly secured. It is
quite possible that having it not be secure is necessary for the
functionality of GoToMyPC--it'd be interesting to know that--and it'd be
interesting to know what the risks are of that cookie not being secured. I
don't know enough to have any opinion about it--the recommended action seems
appropriate.

Another thought: I'm only very distantly familiar with GoToMyPC. This
cookie may be a flag for the use of that product. Flagging the cookie is a
way to alert the user or an administrator that the product has been used on
that PC. Is this useful information for the user? (lots of guesswork
there--but I do want to know why that cookie was there. In my case the user
is the CEO of an office whose network I admin. She may well have wanted a
remote access facility--and I can provide one with Remote Desktop which I
think will meet her needs better.)

--

Bill,

After successfully using both MS AntiSpyware and GoToMyPC for the last
year,
this week I received the same cookie warning. I re-set MS AntiSpyware to
"Always Ignore" the GoToMyPC cookie.

Do you agree? What did you do?

Why is this just now popping up? Was there a recent change to either
GoToMyPC or MS AntiSpyware?

Thanks.

Craig

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your very thorough thoughts/ideas.

I've posed the question to GoToMyPC. I hope to get a reply from them in a
couple days. I'll let you know what they say.

Craig

 

[Guest]

I am having the same problem with 3 computers, all in different locations,
different users etc. I have had 2 of those users have to reinstall gotomypc.
The one after doing a reinstall had it disabled again when the next
antispyware scan ran again. She uses gotomypc rather heavily, over the past
2+ years. I am going to try Always ignore and see if that helps. If you learn
anything, I would appreciate some comments.
Thanks,
James

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Always ignore should take care of the problem. I don't know a better
solution at present.

--

 

[Bill Sanderson]

J T, and Cadenton and other readers of this thread:

My understanding at this point is that this detection was a false positive,
and will be resolved by definition updates tonight.

(So much for my theories about it!)
--

 

[Guest]

Below is the reply I received yesterday from GoToMyPC.

FYI.

=======================================
Dear Sir/Madam,


Thank you for contacting GoToMyPC.

There was a recent update to MS AntiSpyware and for some reason they are now
identifying the GoToMyPC software as Spyware, you were correct to ignore
this, as deleting the GoToMyPC files would render the GoToMyPC software
useless. We are working with MS AntiSpyware to resolve the issue.


Thank you.

Warm Regards,

Sandi Bratley
Customer Care Agent
Citrix Online Division
Citrix Systems, Inc.
5385 Hollister Avenue
Santa Barbara, CA 93111 USA
www.citrix.com
Customer Care & GoToMyPC Personal Sales
888-259-3826 (toll free for North America) 805-690-5750 (direct dial)
001-800-574-4234 (toll free for Mexico)
00-800-5744-2340 (toll free for Europe)

 

[Bill Sanderson]

I don't have a test case to determine whether the issue is really fixed with
the 5781 definitions. I'd be happy to hear from anyone who does.

I still need to talk to my client about what that cookie was doing on her
machine...

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