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Github has not removed malicious imitation software after 3 weeks

▲ 281 points • 119 comments • by hermitcrab • 2w ago • HN discussion ↗

Pangram verdict · v3.3

We believe that this entire text is human-written.

0 %

AI likelihood · overall

Human
100% human-written 0% AI-generated
SEGMENTS · HUMAN 1 of 1
SEGMENTS · AI 0 of 1
WORD COUNT 224
PEAK AI % 0% · §1
Analyzed
Sep 24
backend: pangram/v3.3
Segments scanned
1 windows
avg 224 words each
Distribution
100 / 0%
human / AI fraction
Verdict
Human
Pangram v3.3

Article text · 224 words · 1 segments analyzed

Human AI-generated
§1 Human · 0%

On the 31st August I got an email from a customer, telling me that they had found an imitation of my data wrangling software on Github. I’m not linking to it, but here is a screenshot: It is using our product name and logo, without permission. I reported it to Github as an imitation on the same day. I got this reply: A colleague scanned the Mac .dmg file from the repository using virustotal.com and got a whole load of malware warnings: Using Isobuster he found out that they have also changed the background image of the .dmg: The new image encourages downloaders to ignore any warnings about the malware! I reported this additional information on the 10th September. As of the 23rd September, I have had no response from Github support beyond the original automated email. 23 days without a reponse. This is pisspoor. Do better Github. I’m not sure what my next line of attack is. A DCMA takedown request to Github? Realistically the only people likely to download the .dmg are those trying to avoid paying for a license for Easy Data Transform. I don’t have a huge amount of sympathy for them if they get their computers compromised. But I really don’t like bad guys taking advantage of my hard work. Ps/ Always download software from the vendor, where possible.