180 lines
12 KiB
HTML
180 lines
12 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
|
||
<html lang=”en-us”>
|
||
<head>
|
||
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../style2.css">
|
||
<meta charset="UTF-8">
|
||
<title>SRWare Iron - Spyware Watchdog</title>
|
||
</head>
|
||
<body>
|
||
|
||
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
|
||
<img src="../images/srware_logo.png" alt="SRWare Iron Logo">
|
||
<h1>SRWare Iron</h1>
|
||
<p>
|
||
SRWare Iron is a free web browser, and an implementation of Chromium by SRWare of Germany.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h2>Spyware Level: <font color="red">EXTREMELY HIGH</font></h2>
|
||
<p>
|
||
SRWare Iron claims to be a privacy respecting web browser that is an alternative to <a href="../articles/chrome.html">Google Chrome</a>'s
|
||
spyware, and specifically brands itself as a privacy respecting web browser that aims to give users
|
||
the Chrome experience without Google's spyware. However when examining this program, these claims
|
||
instantly melt away. SRWare Iron connects to an absolutely incredible amount of trackers and opens
|
||
connections to an enormous amount of servers on it's first run. It racks up a rough estimate of
|
||
<b><font color="yellow">~400-500 unsolicited connections</font></b>, and it actually took several minitues for it to stop making new
|
||
requests and connections. SRWare Iron uses the spyware search engine <a href="../articles/bing.html">Bing</a> as it's default search
|
||
engine, however it goes beyond that and routes your requests to Bing through it's own servers
|
||
so that it can spy on your internet searches as well. The bottom line is that this browser is just
|
||
another false privacy initiative and is really <b><font color="red">no better than Chrome.</font></b>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Version 69.0.3600.0 of SRWare Iron was tested on Windows 7 64-bit. MITMproxy, Microsoft Network Montior 3.4,
|
||
and Sysinternals ProcMon were used to monitor the behavior of this program.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3>False Privacy Initiative</h3>
|
||
<p>
|
||
SRWare Iron claims on it's website that it is:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p><i>
|
||
"Chrome thrilled with an extremely fast site rendering, a sleek design and innovative features. But it also gets critic from data protection specialists , for reasons such as creating a unique user ID or the submission of entries to Google to generate suggestions. SRWare Iron is a real alternative. The browser is based on the Chromium-source and offers the same features as Chrome - but without the critical points that the privacy concern."
|
||
</i><sup><a href="#1">[1]</a></sup></p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
The reality is that you are merely trading in one spyware product for another. Where Chrome's spyware has been removed,
|
||
Iron's spyware is there to replace it. Which poision are you going to pick? The worst part is that people will read what is
|
||
claimed on SRWare's website and beleive it without doing any tests for themselves. Like
|
||
<a href="https://dottech.org/23821/srware-iron-a-privacy-oriented-web-browser-built-from-google-chromes-source-code/">this article</a>
|
||
<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160327201202/http://dottech.org/23821/srware-iron-a-privacy-oriented-web-browser-built-from-google-chromes-source-code/">[web.archive.org]</a>
|
||
that just copies the comparison-list from Iron's website without any real investegation before delcaring it a privacy alterantive to Chrome.
|
||
The most audacious thing about it is this incredible quote on the FAQ section for the Iron browser:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p><i>
|
||
"Can i really check that Iron doesn't submit any private data, how you say? Yes, you can. There are tools like Wireshark, which scan the whole network-traffic. We could not recognize any obvious activity. But you can proof this by yourself."
|
||
</i><sup><a href="#2">[2]</a></sup></p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Which is just an amazing gem in the context of what is actually found when running tests on the software.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3>Massive amount of connections on first startup</h3>
|
||
<p>
|
||
When you first start SRWare Iron, it will immediately open the following two pages: <code>https://iron.start.me/us</code> and
|
||
<code>https://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron.php</code>. The most offensive page is the <code>start.me</code> domain
|
||
which begins loading in an enormous amount of spyware from all over the internet. I did not count the specific amount of requests
|
||
but it was somewhere in the 400-500 range (my software doesn't provide a great amount of automation... or maybe i'm not using it
|
||
as well as I could). This <a href../images/iron_spyware.png">image</a> (at 1.06 MB- almost 1/4 of the size of the entire site as of writing!)
|
||
should give you an idea of the amount of requests I was swamped by. It took a while for it to die down. On subsequent runs the
|
||
amount of requests it sent was far less. It connected to spyware platforms like Google Analytics and Piwik, and executed their JavaScript payloads.
|
||
There were a lot of redundant connections to Google Analytics so it's probable that multiple companies are able to send their own
|
||
analytics payloads through this homescreen. Thus throughly fingerprinting and profiling your web browser and computer the moment you
|
||
begin browsing the internet with your new "privacy respecting" browser- so that all of these advertising companies can track you
|
||
everywhere you go!
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
When checking the browser's connections in Network Monitor 3.4, you could see that it connected to a huge amount
|
||
of servers, even though only two domains were ever contacted.<a href../images/iron_connections.png">This screenshot</a> doesn't caputre
|
||
all of the IP addresses that it connected, but should give you an idea.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
And just so that there is no ambiguity, this notice is shown when you load this homepage:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p><i>
|
||
"We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features
|
||
and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site
|
||
with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it
|
||
with other information you’ve provided to them or they’ve collected from your
|
||
use of their services."
|
||
</i></p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Just so that there is no doubt- you are being served tracking cookies by advertising companies.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3>Redirecting of internet searches through developer's domain</h3>
|
||
<p>
|
||
After you've finished identifying your web browser to just about every single spyware company on the internet, you can begin
|
||
making internet searches with your new SRWare Iron browser. The default search engine is the spyware search engine <a href="../articles/bing.html">Bing</a>.
|
||
However it's not enough to just point you at a spyware search engine... when you try and actually run a search on Bing, this is what happens:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<img class="screenshot" src="../images/iron_bing.png" alt="SRWare Iron redirecting through it's own servers">
|
||
<p>
|
||
Basically, every time you make a search with this browser, your searches are sent through the developer's servers.
|
||
So, the developer can know exactly what your internet history is, in this way. Your searches are also being sent through
|
||
<code>wisesearches.com</code>, but I don't know who they are. So now instead of giving up your search history to one
|
||
spyware company, Google, you can give it to three spyware companies, by switching to this browser. This is a very similar
|
||
tactic to the one that the spyware browser <a href="../articles/slimjet.html">Slimjet</a> uses, where it routes searches to
|
||
Bing through it's own domains.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3>Motivations of the SRWare Iron developer?</h3>
|
||
<p>
|
||
If you dig deeper into how SRWare Iron was created, you can find some interesting information from some of the developers of
|
||
Chrome about the motivations behind the creation of this fork. More specifically this very interesting conversation:<sup><a href="#3">[3]</a></sup>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<xmp>
|
||
<Kmos> Iron: why not contribute to it, instead of forking ?
|
||
<Iron> because i removed all privacy-related code
|
||
<Iron> e.g. RLZ
|
||
<Iron> and URL tracking every 5 seconds after start
|
||
<Iron> the original chrome is heavily communitating to google...i hate that
|
||
<jamessan> all of those are supposed to have options to disable them, iirc
|
||
<Iron> yes but they haven't options yet
|
||
<Iron> and nobody knows when the next beta is released
|
||
<jamessan> so work on getting the options added so they'll be there for the next release
|
||
<mgreenblatt> Iron.. why not propose a patch based on preprocessor defines that disables the sections you dislike without forking the code?
|
||
<mgreenblatt> (assuming such a thing doesn't already exist)
|
||
<Iron> because a fork will bring a lot of publicity to my person and my homepage
|
||
<Iron> that means: a lot of money too ;)
|
||
<Kmos> rotflol
|
||
<Iron> what means rotful?
|
||
<mgreenblatt> Iron.. you're a large corporation that can dedicate the time to support a fork of something as complicated as chromium?
|
||
<Kmos> Iron: google about it
|
||
<Iron> yes there is enough time to support it
|
||
<jamessan> heh, you're expecting to make lots of money from making a fork of chromium? that's quite amusing
|
||
<Iron> i dont take money for my fork
|
||
<Iron> but i have adsense on my page ;)
|
||
<Iron> a lot of visitor -> a lot of clicka > a lot of money ;)
|
||
<Kmos> and do you think google should support your fork
|
||
<Kmos> lol
|
||
<mgreenblatt> Iron.. it's always good to have dreams ;-)
|
||
<Iron> we are here in germany
|
||
<Iron> the press will love my fork
|
||
<Iron> i talked to much journalists already
|
||
<DrPizza> Why are you forking?
|
||
<DrPizza> to do what?
|
||
<Iron> to remove all things in source talking to google ;)
|
||
<jamessan> to get fame and fortune
|
||
<Iron> nobody here trusts google
|
||
<Iron> the german people say: google is very evil
|
||
<jamessan> yet you use google's adsense
|
||
</xmp>
|
||
<p>
|
||
So, this could explain a lot... the motivation for this web browser to exist was to monetize
|
||
privacy concerns by generating traffic to his website, where he could make money by serving spyware
|
||
to the very users that wanted to escape from it. Then his fork gets loaded up with all sorts of
|
||
spyware from all sorts of other companies... which he probably makes some amount of money from as well.
|
||
(why else would he take the time to integrate these things into his browser? we can only speculate.)
|
||
At the end of the day it's pretty clear that this browser is a huge scam and you shouldn't use it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<hr>
|
||
<center>
|
||
<h2>Sources</h2>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<a name="1">1.</a>
|
||
<a href="http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron.php">SRWare Iron: The Browser of the future - Overview</a>
|
||
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181118232123/http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron.php">[web.archive.org]</a>
|
||
<a href="https://archive.is/qMNlG">[archive.is]</a><br>
|
||
<a name="2">2.</a>
|
||
<a href="https://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron_faq.php">SRWare Iron: The Browser of the future - Frequently asked questions</a>
|
||
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180502103925/http://www.srware.net:80/en/software_srware_iron_faq.php">[web.archive.org]</a>
|
||
<a href="https://archive.fo/TXJbh">[archive.is]</a><br>
|
||
<a name="3">3.</a>
|
||
<a href="http://neugierig.org/software/chromium/notes/2009/12/iron.html">The story of Iron</a>
|
||
<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20180427094010/http://neugierig.org/software/chromium/notes/2009/12/iron.html">[web.archive.org]</a><br>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<hr>
|
||
<p><b>
|
||
This article was last edited on 11/20/2018
|
||
</b></p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), contact us on XMPP over in spyware@conference.nuegia.net, or visit us at the git repo on <a href="https://codeberg.org/TheShadow/SpywareWatchdog">Codeberg</a>.All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 liscence to be accepted.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode"><img class="icon" src="../images/cc0.png" alt="CC0 Liscence"></a>
|
||
<p><a href="../articles/index.html">Back to catalog</a></p>
|
||
<center>
|
||
</body>
|
||
|
||
</html> |