In a reversal of fortunes, Batelco finds its own site blocked by a much higher authority than the one it kowtows to: Google!
Several people emailed me a screen grab of Batelco’s site in the latest FireFox browser which severely warns people from having anything to do with Batelco; in fact, it offers a very expeditious get-way for would-be visitors by offering them a button which says “Get me out of here!”
While the dire warning of having anything to do with Batelco is not new, nor is it unique, it is quite germane to the company that offers us untold amount of spam, and through whose servers and collection of IP addresses our business get affected. I am sure that others have suffered from those petulant “undeliverable mail” syndromes that hurls emails back at senders like gleaming hot coals due to their association with Batelco due to its status in the black lists of almost all the major spam-detecting engines.
So thanks to the dependable Google for protected me and countless others who have the forethought to insist on using Firefox which allows for the display of such warnings:
What is the current listing status for www.batelco.com?
- Site is listed as suspicious – visiting this web site may harm your computer.
- Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 1 time(s) over the past 90 days.
What happened when Google visited this site?
- Of the 843 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 284 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 07/27/2008, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 07/27/2008.
- Malicious software is hosted on 27 domain(s), including butdrv .com, chds .ru, kgj3 .ru.
- 1 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including butdrv .com.
Lackadaisical security policies? Or is it once again complete indifference on Batelco’s part?
I would err on the side of both; why should they even care if they are the de facto source of internet communications in this country? A privilege they hold on to and will continue to do so with the complete aid and support of our very own Government – being its largest shareholder, and one that does not care to put any pressure whatsoever on its child to engender creativity and competitiveness in order to allow Bahraini individuals and companies to compete in a global and much more connected marketplace?
The reason must be manifold of course, but could the chief reason amongst them is the perceived indifference that our own government holds us in by allowing the perpetuation of this situation? Robbing us of our chances of a much more creative and competitive marketspace that cheaper and unrestricted communication could very well engender?
In any case. I urge everyone who has to deal with Batelco to exercise extreme caution. You never know when (not if) you will be breached because you are beholden to them.
Comments
hahaha! don’t you just heart google and firefox?
This stresses the importance of installing (and maintaining) good quality protection software. I’ve used a few, but McAfee has been the most reliable and has helped me out many times when my PC has been under attack.
But an attack (malware as opposed to $$$) from Batelco?! Now that is indeed an eye opener.
Thank heaven for Macs
and Linux 🙂
Serves them right for neglecting their own website. I sometimes wonder who would actually want to head over to Batelco’s website? Their site’s so static, I can actually see a layer of dust forming!
in the words of good ol’ Johnny, avec petit changement:
Internet Karma’s gonna get you,
Gonna knock you right on the head,
You better get yourself together,
Pretty soon you’re gonna be dead….
Ha, ha. And a spiders web in the corner of the screen! 🙄
Hussain,
Its only a matter of time. This year has seen quite a few vulnerabilities for the mac exposed (and patched). In this years pwn2own hacking contest a macbook pro was the first to fall (ahead of linux and windows). Granted, the exploit could have worked on all three platforms, it so happened the hacker wanted the macbook pro…
Luckily though, most script kiddies prefer windoze.
Batelco’s IP range is flooded with zombies and bot-nets.
Many company’s in Bahrain are suffering and their emails are bouncing because of that.
During the last two years, I’ve seen Batelco’s range being blacklisted many times.
We’re in good hands!
Something I’ve been noticed of late is that sometimes Google says it’s suspects I’m a bot when I do a google search and I have to prove I’m a good human being by entering a series of letters of numbers!
Has anyone else been experiencing this with Batelco?
all the time.
I agree ,
buy viagra. http://www.batelcompex.com.ru
damn, I put a fake tag in there as a joke. Guess your posting widget actually tried to interpret it….
btw, on the google thinking someone is bot.
That problem is squarely in google’s court. I got that error when I was traveling a couple of weeks ago.