Business Idea: HijackThis Log Analyser.

[jrbarnett]

Everybody

Judging by the number of posts in this forum, together with the Windows operating system, browser and antivirus forums here there is a definite market for a HijackThis log analysis tool, either as a Win32 application along the lines of Ad-Aware or a web site based tool such as the W3C HTML validator.
It would output details of what was OK and what should be removed, along with details of what they are and why they are OK or should be removed. Maybe if it was a win32 application, it could even do the fixing as well.

I have been thinking about this over the last few days and have come to the conclusion that while I would like to tackle this, I don't have the necessary in depth expertise in security, antivirus or browser hijacking to do a good job of the log processing engine, or the time and expertise to keep it up to date to pick up the latest vulnerabilities and to maybe inform people if there are newer service packs or patches available for their browser/operating system that would close some holes.

If anybody here feels they want to take up the challenge and has the time, interest and expertise to do so, please feel free to go ahead.

John

 

[GRMorris]

That is an outstanding idea, John.

 

[lullysing]

...which the hijackthis people will probably wanna know about anyhow...

_____________________________
when someone asks for your username and password, and much *clickely clickely* is happening in the background, know enough that you should be worried.

 

[jrbarnett]

In fact, I'm surprised nobody has attempted something along these lines already.

John

 

[GRMorris]

I imagine, as you say, the task of keeping it up to date would be no small task.

 

[viol8ion]

It would be a formiddable task keeping such an app up to date, as the hijackers are already out giving CWShredder a run for their money with new hijacks as soon as CWS come with a fix...and hijack this would require 15 times the resources just to keep up with the flood of scary apps out there.

A human's mind interpreting the results is proboably the most efficient manner to read these logs at this time, unless someone had a ton of money to pour into such a project, a ton of money that they would see little return on. How many people here would pay for such an app, and how much would you pay?

As soon as something is released on the net, it seems to be a common misoconception that it should be free. Without a way to pay for the development, this would cost a bundle and would have to be done as an act of charity? Anyone wanna contribute?

When in doubt, deny all terms and defnitions.

http://www.wuli.com

 

[GRMorris]

I imagine companies and proffesionals would pay, it would be an extremely usefull tool amongst the arsenal.

 

[GRMorris]

Sorry, I cut that post a little short.

If such a project was started I would be more than happy to donate some time.

Russell.

 

[viol8ion]

It could work if it was done in an open source mindset. However, since most open-source aficionados are into linux, and are immune to hijacks due to system OS as well as they are usually smart enough not to get infected, you won't find too many donating their time to a Windows only problem.

I suppose a script in VB would be easy anough to develop that would scan the log, and compare entries with an external database to match for offending entries... the script would be easy, the database would take constant updating.

When in doubt, deny all terms and defnitions.

http://www.wuli.com

 

[jrbarnett]

Reflecting on this feedback, I think I now know why the authors didn't turn it into a removal utility, because of the immense efforts needed to keep it up to date.
I have found a document giving basic details of how to interpret a HijackThis log, written by the author of the software, which can be viewed here:

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/htlogtutorial.html

John