AII.Aboard the Internet
boo .. I' watching youe
Peek aD
Spyware
By Don E. Descy
omputer owners unite ... (Consumer Reports, 2004) found that your house or retirement inventory,;
your computer, your privacy in 1.5 million PC scans a whopping surf the net ... or do anything where;
and your identity are under average of 28 instances of spyware was you touch a key on your computer.
attack! Not only from forces detected per computer! Malware: Malware changes your
you know about - viruses How important is it? In September system settings and often damages the
and worms - but also from a more of 2004 Microsoft warned users to system or performs other undesirable
sinister group of villains cloaked un- scan and remove spyware before they functions like sending and receiving
der the mantle of spyware (sometimes download its free security updates to cookies to other spyware applications
also known as adware). The term "spy- prevent the spyware from fouling up - and inviting these applications and
ware" does not denote a single type of the updates (Associated Press, 2004). cookies into your computer, even if
software, but rather a group of software Even though these security updates you have cookies disabled.
applications all designed to sneak onto are designed to protect against viruses, Dialers: Dialers, as the name
your computer and do their deeds with- worms and spyware, they cannot do implies, dial other services (like porn
out your knowledge. ' :T
sites) for which you are
Spyware may be more A billed, often offshore
sinister than viruses ahd and at extremely high
worms because your prices.
computer could have (and Search hijackers:
probably does have!.. Search hijackers inter-
see next paragraph) spy- cept search requests that
ware installed right now, AD-AWiARE SE PERSONAL you make to real search
secretly hijacking your engines, like Yahoo or
computer, scanning your r-
Ad-Aware is designed to-provide advance *d Google, and display
hard drive, monitoring _
protection from known Data-mining, aggi ressive their own results in or-
advertising, Parasites, Scumware, selecte d der to direct you to a
your key-strokes and send- td-t-
Dnal Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hija
ing your valuable informa- and ti
3cking components. With the release of Ad- -Aware limited number of sites
tion to parties unknown. SE Personal edition, Livasoft takes the fight agal nst that pay the spyware
And you may never even Spywa ire to the next level. vendor for this service.
know it Sometimes legitimate
Why do I call spyware The list above does not cover all of the different types of spyiva reapplications looking search toolbars
sinister? Well, unlike Ad-awvare says it willprotect against. are really hidden spy-
viruses or worms that are designed to anything about spyware already on ware applications. Know the vendor
do damage to your files or even your your machine. before you download a toolbar!
computer and to propagate themselves So, spyware is a problem and it Pop-up generators: Pop-up gen-
so they can be spread through email, is probably on your computer right erators pop advertisements up on your
and/or the swapping of disks and now. First, what does spyware do? screen. You dodt even have to be on-
programs, spyware sneaks into your Many, many sinister things, but there line. I was in a colleague's office the
computer and usually works unnoticed are several major forms of spyware in other day, and as we were talking an
behind the scenes. circulation today. advertisement popped onto his com-
Just how prevalent is spyware? More puter screen. He just said "hah ... look
Key loggers or collectware: Key
than you would ever believe. A study at that" and closed it.
loggers detect and log every keystroke
done by AOL in 2003 found that 91 Browser hijackers: Browser hijack-
percent of computers using broadband you make on your computer. Then ers take over your browser and replace
they send this log back to the spyware
access had spyware on them and the startup or home page with one of
of the spyware their own. Many times this home page
another study in early 2004 conducted company or to one
company's clients. Think about this as
by Webroot Software and Earthlink seems to be helpful, but it actually
you write that paper, pay that bill, redo sends you along to a page paid for by
TechTrends 5
48, Number 6
Volume 48, Number 6 TechTrends 5
r
frtWh IrA Z5Ej viewers installed anti-spyware sites, download the soft-
on your computer ware, and scan your hard disk!
(i.e. Adobe Reader,
RealPlayer, Flash, References
Associated Press, (September 3,2004). Checkfor
inator Window Media
Player,QuickTime, spywvare first. Retrieved online September
3, 2004 at http://wwwdfw.com/mld/dfw/
A great site to startyour anti-spywareapplications search. etc.)
.Close all business/9572930.htm?1 c
the spywares client. Even if you go into pop-up windows immediately! Don't Consumer Reports. (September, 2004), CR
your browser's preferences and change click in the pop-up box. Investigates: Protect. yourself online.
back to your preferred home page, the . Adjust your browser security Consumer Reports, 12-19.
browser hijacker rechanges it back in a setting to medium or above. You may Guth, R. A. & Bank, D. (August 30, 2004)
never-ending cycle. want to change your browser from Tech's unlikely comebacks: Mozilla nips
Trojan horses: Trojan horses usu- security-hole prone Internet Explorer at Microsoft in market for Web browsers
ally attach to an application and cause (TechNewsWorld, 2004). An interesting by promising fewer glitches. The Wall
it and/or the system to do tasks that article on this and many of Microsoft's Street Journal (CCXLIV)42:B1. Retrieved
aid the spyware's client. They can read, security problems can be found in the September 3, 2004 online at http://www.
write and delete files and even reformat Wall Street Journal (see Guth and Bank decrem.com/bart/archives/000079.
your hard drive ... all the while sending below). html#more
information back to the spyware com- . Install anti-spyware, update it TechNewsWorld. (August 28, 2004). Special
pany or its client. regularly and scan your hard drive of- Report. Internet Explorer, security concerns
As you can see, you do not want ten. (Make sure thaf it is name brand and browvser alternatives. Retrieved online
anything to do with spyware. Most anti-spyware ... or else it could be spy- September 3, 2004 from http://www.
spyware are executable files that take ware itself!) Ihere are freeware anti- technewsworld.com/story/Internet-
over authorization abilities from the spyware applications available, two Explorer-Security-Concerns-and-
computer owner. Browser-Alternatives-36186.html
They include auto web roiWt.
install and auto 8 I
update features
and may even
Pi Vy :weeper Sites of Interest
TopTenReviews.Anti-spywarerevietvs. Retrieved
report back any tio iti yware from monitoring your online online September 3,2004 from http://www.
attempt you actvte is and reducing PC performance. anti-spyware-review.toptenreviews.com/
maLeP tn rpmneu Anti-spyware products are reviewed. Spy
One of the most highly rated anti-spywvare applications. sweeper, SpyHunter and 15 others in an in-
or modify them!
Many are even depth side-by-side comparison of features.
of which are Ad-aware (http://www.
protected from yoi ir computer's lavasoftuse.com) and Spybot Search
uninstall application. Whatis.com. Spyware Information Kit. Retrieved
& Destroy (http://beam.to/spybotsd). September 3, 2004 from http://whatis.
So what can you do to protect You may want to run both just in case
yourself from spyware? Here are a few one misses something that the other techtarget.com/definition/0%2C%2Csid9_
ideas: gci905446%2C00.html. Contains valuable
one might find. information on what spyware is, wvhat it
. Be absolutely sure* you know the . Read those software license does and how to prevent it.
source ofanysoftwareyoi idownloadfrom windows. You may be getting more
the Web. Suspect any J applications
Free than you "paid" for.
(big ones now are free m tovie file-sharing . Become knowledgeable about spy
or music applications). If the Web site ware. Check the web, check magazines,
prompts you to downlo ad a free viewer and search Google news regularly.
or special program, go somewhere else. . Buy a Macintosh. There is no spy-
By now you should have most legitimate ware that will run on the Macintosh
platform.
~Well,
kTSm \-
-~~~
you Now,
ag t,yi the first thing you
jR) \i
ray should do ... right
i _';
now ... is go to
the two freeware
A verypopular anti-spyware application.
6 TechTrends Volume 48, Number 6
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
TITLE: Peek a boo... I’m watching you: Spyware
SOURCE: TechTrends 48 no6 N/D 2004
PAGE(S): 5-6
The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and it
is reproduced with permission. Further reproduction of this article in
violation of the copyright is prohibited.