Program Shareware? Oatmeal Cookies?

*Syneryder* · 05-30-2004, 06:34 AM

I've got a really bizarre spider browsing my website called Program Shareware 1.0.0. Anyone know anything about it? It keeps returning to my site and submitting a request in my search engine for "Oatmeal Cookies". Since my website has nothing to do with anything oatmeal (let alone cookies), I have got no idea what this spider is doing.

It's definitely a spider though because it's been accessing pages on my site, including an email form script I have (and clearly needs some modification now, because it's been triggering blank emails to myself as a result.) That page is blocked by robots.txt, so it isn't abiding by the Robot guidelines.

Lately it's been coming in from IPs 68.110.114.196 and 67.18.133.10.

Any ideas?

*Syneryder* · 05-30-2004, 06:43 AM

Doh. Someone remind me next time that Google is my friend

According to this WebMasterWorld thread on Program Shareware, it's a spider that searches websites for email addresses to spam, and attempts to post to guestbooks and forums with advertising for online drugs. Search Google for the phrase "Is there any problem in my telling you about my own web site?" and you'll find a bunch of sites that have been hit by this.

*Chipmunk* · 05-30-2004, 06:54 PM

Kohan, thanks for sharing the original attack, and your research! It's always good to hear about bad bots, before they hit one's own site!

That first one (68.110.114.196) is from Cox Communications, so it might be productive to complain to them.

The second one (67.18.133.10) is from "ThePlanet.com Internet Services, Inc.", to whom I've submitted dozens of spam complaints over a two year period, and, as of last week, have had zero action. I had not realized they were now running a bad bot, so just htaccess blocked their entire net range (67.18.0.0 - 67.19.127.255).

That gave me a

warm fuzzy feeling, for which I thank you.

*Randall* · 05-30-2004, 09:58 PM

See, if it'd been chocolate chip cookies, then this all would have made perfect sense. (That's what the cookies whisper in my ear before I dunk them.) Oatmeal cookies are evil.

Good to see you're still alive, Kohan.

Randall

*Chipmunk* · 05-30-2004, 10:38 PM

Randall, what about chocolate chip oatmeal cookies?!? The newish (?) Pillsbury dough ones are quite fine & tastee.

Hmmmm... we need a chocolate smiley.

*Syneryder* · 06-01-2004, 01:34 AM

LOL... yes, very much still alive

Very busy lately though. And something has gone wrong with my Opera installation, it won't properly accept the cookies for these forums - so whenever I try to post here, it tells me I'm not logged in even though I am. So I'm posting this from FireFox for now.

Love the "new" avatar, Randall!

*Randall* · 06-01-2004, 06:28 PM

Putting chocolate chips in an oatmeal cookie is like dressing a turtle in a tutu. You may be expecting Swan Lake, but all you're gonna get is an annoyed turtle. In pink!

Quote:

And something has gone wrong with my Opera installation, it won't properly accept the cookies for these forums

See? Mix up your chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies and nothing works right anymore.

Time to go home -- I hear a chocolate chip cookie calling me.

Randall

*Astrotrain* · 07-01-2004, 05:11 PM

01. Opera install, just backup your Opera data (bookmarks, etc), and install
Opera 7.51 and restore your Opera data. Should fix your issues with cookies.

02. Net bots...one file, one answer ->'robots.txt' stops bots cold.

*kitchin* · 07-01-2004, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Astrotrain:

02. Net bots...one file, one answer ->'robots.txt' stops bots cold.

It will only stop well-behaved bots.

*Syneryder* · 07-01-2004, 10:03 PM

Yep, and unfortunately this bot has been disobeying my robots.txt file. I could block it with htaccess if I really felt like it, but for the moment that seems overkill.