Beware Rippers0!

[Chinaren]

I use SC to help see how many downloads my ebook site has, and one thing I noticed, some time ago, is visits by 'someone' with the browser name 'Rippers0' (or something similar).

Shortly after I was visited by these browsers my site was hacked. Luckily I managed to fix it, but a few weeks later the same thing happened again.

After I repaired it again (and moved hosts!!), I looked up what this Ripper browser was (something I should have done the first time). Turns out it's a package used to find weaknesses of sites so they can be hacked.

Since then every time I see a Ripper browser I ban the IP address range from my Host control panel.

Just FYI people!

[webado]

Thanks for the heads up.

However you should really fix your site's weaknesses. Banning those IPs won't help.

[sweet little angel]

I'm with Webado...thanks for the info!

[sweet little angel]

Today, I noticed that an Arabian visitor is using a Rippers 0 browser. Before then they had used Internet Explorer, 7.0, 5.5, 6.0, Default Browser, and now Rippers 0 in that order. The visits are coming from the same IP.

They first showed up using Google Translate. Then about a month later began using the R 0 browser.

Several months ago someone from the States used the same browser. So, I'd like to know if any of you computer saavy folks know what this browser is about? Is it malicious? Or is the browser being used because there's some translation features included (Google isn't the best translator, that I do know). My blog hasn't been hijacked. Yet.

The internet didn't offer much information. Rippers 0 has been an issue since at least 2008. Also, in 2009 someone in Maryland visited my blog once with the same browser. Haven't had any of my blogs hacked. One forum stated that the browser often shows up as being used by well known businesses and organizations, including the Gov.

I'm wondering if this browser is capable of masking its IP somehow? Really would like to know the scoop on this browser.




Thanks in advance for all responses.

[BananaJoe]

Rippers aint about hacking.. The ripper browser shows up when a person who for example is working at a bak or some other place where they monitor the employes internet usage.

It checks the site they go to for "bad" things like pron etc and log the visit.. Thats what the ripper is..

[sweet little angel]

Originally Posted by BananaJoe

Rippers aint about hacking.. The ripper browser shows up when a person who for example is working at a bak or some other place where they monitor the employes internet usage.

It checks the site they go to for "bad" things like pron etc and log the visit.. Thats what the ripper is..

Sounds comforting.

Thank you for the response BananaJoe!

[davep4hpg]

Originally Posted by BananaJoe

Rippers aint about hacking.. The ripper browser shows up when a person who for example is working at a bak or some other place where they monitor the employes internet usage.

It checks the site they go to for "bad" things like pron etc and log the visit.. Thats what the ripper is..

No; Ripper is a tool for downloading a website and storing it for offline use. It can be used to copy and steal a website, it can also be used for offline browsing of a website with no ill-intent whatsoever.

Any corporate IT department which relies on a tool such as this to see what their employees are doing , as you suggest, deserves to be out of business. There are far more sophisticated and less intrusive tools for doing that.

[sweet little angel]

Rippers aint about hacking.. The ripper browser shows up when a person who for example is working at a bak or some other place where they monitor the employes internet usage.

It checks the site they go to for "bad" things like pron etc and log the visit.. Thats what the ripper is..

No; Ripper is a tool for downloading a website and storing it for offline use. It can be used to copy and steal a website, it can also be used for offline browsing of a website with no ill-intent whatsoever.

Hmmm....I've heard both explanations on the internet. So, Dave, if the person lands on one page/post, does that mean the visitor only downloaded the single page? How popular is this tool in foreign countries and how can a person find out if their website or posts/pages are floating around in cyberspace in a foreign language? Any language?

If this is legitimate (legal) software, then where is the company website I can go to to find out information about what their product does? Heck, what IS the name of the company that created this potentially evile tool?

Last year, the owner of a website I had left a comment on, notified her visitors (or was it Followers?), informing them that her site had been duplicated: As we can imagine, she was super pissed. I checked out the URL the site owner provided as proof and it, indeed, had duplicated the posts and pictures the owner had taken herself, only with different ads. She said Google was working with her to get the fake site shut down.

Despicable.

Anyone who steals my content is just plain desperate. Among other things. But in my case--I can see the appeal of duplicating certain posts for a foreign audience. But why not just ask if they can translate and provide certain posts to an audience of their choosing?

Thank you, Dave, for your response.

[webado]

You can only find out exact duplicates of your content (mostly by accident or if the exact duplicate is indexed and you happen to discover it) - so this means no translations. Any tools out there can only compare characters and characters strings, not meanings and their translations.

Any time somebody visits a web page an exact copy is made and stored in the computer's cache for subsequent speedier browsing. So there's not even any need for a specialized tool for copying a web page, the browser has already done it for you.