Posted by the ManGeek

Sunday, July 10th 2005 10:37 pm CDT

I noticed some disturbing traffic in my log files today. The thing that set these requests apart was the fact that they were for almost every file I offer on my site and they did not attempt to download any of the images and styles that go with those files.

A little digging turned up that these requests were coming from Cyveillance. For those who haven't heard of them, they are a company who has a goal to track websites and locate information that would be used for identity theft, brand abuse, or copyright infringement. However their methods are highly questionable and in my opinion skirt the edges of computer trespass. My basis for this is that they make requests for files that are not published. Some comments exist on some of my sites and within are stored place holders for files. They search the code for any links contained within comments and intentfully attempt to download those files.

As it stands, others have made similar complaints. Some even more serious like having found their spiders to attempt to get directory listings and make "guesses" at files they might be hoping to find. Examples and documentation of their activities can be found here, [cyveillance.linuxgod.net] here [www.gulker.com], here [www.unicom.com], here [securemylinuxbox.com], here [www.wellsofjustice.com] and here [www.openpolitics.com]. Just as technically serious but not illegal, is that they ignore the robots.txt protocol and download files from websites that automated programs have been ordered implicitely to avoid. Usually the point of this file is due to spurious unintelligent requests which can ultimately consume excessive resources on the server or potentially cause harm. Some sites are simply supposed to be browsed by humans and not computers. Cyveillance seems to think otherwise.

While there is certainly more nefarious things taking place on the internet, computer trespass is still a serious issue. Perhaps more serious when done under the guise of big business.

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