Mind the adware

Adware installers from download sites have become ubiquitous and are now the norm rather than the exception. We therefore urge users to refrain from downloading Cyberduck from download sites such as download.com, softonic.com or macupdate.com which are or have in the past distributed adware (advertising-supported installers) without our consent. Always download software through the Mac App Store or directly from the developer’s site.

We are also sending out emails to these publishers urging them to stop wrapping our software with an adware  concealing installer and additionally urge Apple to revoke their Developer ID certificate used to distribute the installers (radar://23550056) and/or add the installers to the list of known malware by Gatekeeper.

Update: MacUpdate has removed the adware installer in response to our email claiming the “Cyberduck listing will not be part of any future tests we do with app downloads”.

Update: Cnet.download.com has removed the adware installer in response to our email confirmed with “Download.com installer has been disabled for this company profile”.