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Guide to Spyware
Basic Information
What Is Spyware?
Spyware Detection
Spyware Removal
False Positives
Software
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Guide 2 Spyware
> What Is Spyware?
What Is Spyware?
Malware is software (from Malicious Software) that is
designed to infiltrate a person's computer system without their
informed consent and usually performs activities which the owner
of the computer would consider unwanted at best, or downright
harmful at worst.
Some common forms of malware include (note: some programs may fall into
more than one category):
- Viruses - programs that copy themselves from computer to computer
often causing damage along the way.
- Trojans - programs that appear to benign or even helpful, but which
actually perform a malicious function.
- Dialers - programs that cause a person's computer to make
telephone calls (often unauthorized telephone calls) to premium rate
numbers.
- Key Loggers - programs that record a user's keystrokes or screen
activities and forward the information to a third party. This information
may include confidential or personal details such as passwords, credit
card numbers, etc.
- Adware - programs that cause adverts, often in the form of
pop-ups, to be displayed on a user's computer
- Spyware - programs that collect personal information about the
user, such as web sites visited, etc.
In addition, the term "Spyware" is often used generically
to refer to those forms of malware which are designed to generate revenue
for their perpetrators (i.e. diallers, key loggers, adware and spyware).
A computer can become infected with spyware, adware, or malware in a variety of
different ways, including:
- Some websites include malicious code that exploits bugs
in users' web browsers, such that software can be downloaded and installed
in the background without the users' knowledge or consent.
- Some websites use social engineering tricks to get the user to
agree to downloading software. For example, a website may present the
user with a blizzard of pop-ups, each of which has to be dismissed by
clicking "Yes", an in the middle of this blizzard is the
dialog box asking if the user wishes to download and install some
spyware software ("Yes" or "No"), tricking many people
into agreeing to install the spyware.
- Some malware programs spread by spam. For example, if one person's
computer is infected, the program may send emails to everybody in that
person's address book with a copy of itself attached and labelled as something
else.
- Sometimes adware or spyware programs have been bundled with other applications. For
example, a user may download or install one particular program, and later find that adware or spyware
was installed on their computer too!
- In some cases, part of the bargain of getting the free or cheap software is to
allow adverts to be shown on your computer in return. If the
software is clearly labelled as containing
advertising of this type, and the user knows and agrees, then that is of
course the user's choice. Software containing advertising of this type,
should probably not therefore be labelled as "malware".
- In other cases, it has been known for software authors to actively
conceal the fact that their software displays adverts, and/or to hinder
the removal of the advertising software even if the application that it
came with is removed.
- There are also of course many difficult issues and some grey areas.
For example:
- How clear does the labelling of software containing advertising have to be?
- How easy does the uninstallation of the advertising software have to be?
- Can a person who is not the owner of the computer (for example a teenager
using instant messaging software) properly
consent to the installation of adware?
We are not going to try and answer all these questions, but it's something that
both users and software-developers need to think more seriously about in future.
Be aware, these matter are not just technical issues, but often social and psychological
ones too - for example, we all know that something can be absolutely clear for one person, yet remain
totally confusing and opaque to another.
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