Caution should be applied even to highly touted download sites such as CNET, Tucows, Winsite etc Their disclaimers will tell you that even the hosting sites cannot ensure the downloads are truly sanctified as safe.
QUOTE
National University of Singapore - Vietnamese foreign student hacker jailed
By Wong Fei Wan, TODAY
SINGAPORE : An undergraduate who used a Trojan Horse programme to steal the passwords and user IDs of fellow students was jailed 20 months on Wednesday.
Nguyen Van Phi Hung, a third-year computer engineering student at the National University of Singapore (NUS), is the first person here to be prosecuted for using a Trojan Horse programme.
Hung had downloaded Perfect Keylogger last year and attached it to an online game which he posted on his webpage.
He also sent the hyperlink to friends.
Whenever someone played the game, Perfect Keylogger would be installed automatically on the person's computer and record all keystrokes made by the user.
This was how Hung got the password and user ID of Wong Ming Liang's DBS online bank account.
He used Wong's funds to buy $947 worth of prepaid phone cards and paid for a $138 magazine membership and a two-year-subscription fee.
Hung used another student's account to subscribe to the magazine.
He pleaded guilty to three charges of accessing the DBS server illegally to cheat - each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' jail and $50,000 fine - and another charge of unlawful access to the computer server in NUS, which could have gotten him three years' jail and a $10,000 fine.
So watch out... just to be safe... only source products directly from reputable vendor's site. But do note - even reputable giants such as Microsoft, Oracle and Computer Associates have numerous times in the past inadvertently distributed infected products. (Yes, this also included infected emails as well in the corporate emailed missives to their extensive client base)
