Slick Savings

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Report Date: January 20, 2015
Test Date(s): January 2015
Installation Source: Download.com bundle via Spigot
Version: 1.1 Shopping Helper (SH)  1.5 New Tab Assistant (NTA)
Developer: Spigot
Browsers: Chrome
EULA Provided During Installation: Yes

Installation

This application was part of a bundled installation from Download.com. The software used the name Spigot during the installation. This was not the actual software but an installer for two applications: Shopping Helper and New Tab Assistant (labeled as such during the installation process). The installed software were Slick Savings and New Tab Assistant not Spigot. This can lead to consumer confusion about how the software became installed on their computer.

Associated Domains and IP Addresses

Domain	IP Address	Registar
spigtrdpjs.info	54.243.198.140	Private
savingsslider-a.akamaihd.net	23.212.53.215	Akamai Tech
trk-u.com	50.16.222.230	Private
fwdaff.com	50.23.216.166	Private

Aliases

The actual relationship between Spigot and SlickSavings is unclear at this time.

Revenue Sources

Affiliate Marketing (Slick Savings)
Search (New Tab Assistant)

Affiliate ID’s

Commission Junction PID 5737646
Rakuten Affiliate Network (Linkshare) (encrypted) HBLvzQS2RdU
Ebay Partner Network (mybrowserbar.com) 5336892434

Behavior

New Tab Assistant

A search box is added to the New Tab page in Chrome. Search results are through Yahoo!

Slick Savings

This software frequently transmits encrypted data (SSL connection) to their severs. Since the data is encrypted, we can not know exactly what data they are transmitting.

This software uses javascript to alter the appearance and/or content of web sites. It injects an overlay in the browser bar area prompting users to deals and coupons.

When the user clicks on the “See More Offers” on the right-hand side of the browser bar, a drop down menu of all deals and coupons is presented.

If the user clicks on any of the deals or coupons links, the affiliate link is set.

When partnered with the merchant, the application became active displaying the browser bar and slider regardless of the traffic source to the merchant. This included traffic originating from direct type-ins, organic search, paid search listings and other affiliates.

We found no evidence of hidden forced clicks or automatic redirects of the affiliate link. We did note it was possible to accidentally click on a deal when attempting to manipulate the drop down/slider box, which would set the affiliate link. However, the deals and slider continued displaying after clicking the Slick Savings affiliate link. This could allow for multiple affiliate clicks from the same user inflating traffic.