Sunbelt is a software company that makes the well known anti-spyware called CounterSpy.
While investigating a new mutation of the CoolWebSearch trojan, a Sunbelt researcher was astounded to discover that it was being used for identity theft. All manner of personal information is being uploaded to a publicly-viewable web server, including eBay passwords, Paypal passwords and passwords for bank accounts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Anyone who knows this web server's IP address can view all of this information!
After initially rebuffing Sunbelt when they first made contact, the FBI now is said to be investigating the matter. Sunbelt also has tried contacting some of the victims of this identity theft.
CoolWebSearch is a particularly nasty browser hijacker with countless variations. They have hundreds, possibly thousands, of affiliated web sites who all feed traffic into coolwebsearch.com. Many of those affiliates use exploits for various flaws in Windows and Internet Explorer to install browser hijackers.
The motivation behind all of this, of course, is money. Coolwebsearch.com is nothing more than a collection of paid listings. If someone clicks the links on their web site, they are paid a small commission from the owner of the site being linked. In turn, CoolWebSearch pays their affiliates to drive traffic to their site.
They almost always have used unethical and possibly illegal methods to install this hijacking software.
The recommended thing to do is to scan your system using the very specialized CWShredder which removes all traces of CWS.
