Spyware - What You Don't Know Can Hurt Your Computer
Sunday, 4. November 2007, 23:46:34
Most of us have heard the words Spyware, Phishing and Adware and have programs trying to prevent them from infecting our computers. If you have run your programs to remove them once they are on your computer you will see how many your computer has attracted. To give those of you who don't really understand what this can mean read the following from Tech News:
(At best, Spyware consumes resources and slows down your computer. At worst; Spyware is a conduit that downloads Trojans, Keyloggers, and Viruses to your computer without your knowledge.
The term 'Spyware' covers a broad spectrum – from often harmless Adware (advertisements) that report your web usage for advertisement purposes – to Malware (malicious applications) intended to harm your PC for profit or fun.
A recent report from the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington found that in a sample of over 2,500 domains, 4.4% had infected Spyware executables. While many were annoying but relatively harmless, an alarming 13% of Spyware from the study were designed to download Trojans to the infected computer.
Once present, Trojans present risk to not only the users' machine, but to the entire organizational network. Proper removal typically requires quick research on the particular infection to select the appropriate removal process and, in certain instances, may require the computer drives to be formatted, essentially re-building the PC for the user. Spyware Function
Numbers exceed 100% because many Spyware installs have multiple purposes.
Source: Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington
How does it get there?
Spyware applications are often installed on a user's PC without his/her knowledge by being bundled with freeware or shareware applications. Common culprits are sites that provide 'free' screensavers, wallpaper, and games that are bundled with Spyware. Sometimes these sites even advertise free Spyware removal tools!
Alternatively, applications can be installed without consent through browser vulnerabilities that permit automatic 'drive-by' downloads simply by visiting a site. Often Spyware includes code used to gather and transmit information about a user's online activity/behavior to a third party. This statistical data can be used harmlessly for targeted marketing purposes. However, in an ever growing number of cases, the intent is to report to an external organization particular vulnerabilities that exist on a specific computer - allowing future contact for harm.)
One way you can help prevent some of the attacks is to keep your computer turned off if you are not going to use it for most of the day. If your computer is turned off you can't receive or transmit anything from your computer.
I hope this bit of info is of some help in fighting these attacks.
Talk to you all soon,
RJ
(At best, Spyware consumes resources and slows down your computer. At worst; Spyware is a conduit that downloads Trojans, Keyloggers, and Viruses to your computer without your knowledge.
The term 'Spyware' covers a broad spectrum – from often harmless Adware (advertisements) that report your web usage for advertisement purposes – to Malware (malicious applications) intended to harm your PC for profit or fun.
A recent report from the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington found that in a sample of over 2,500 domains, 4.4% had infected Spyware executables. While many were annoying but relatively harmless, an alarming 13% of Spyware from the study were designed to download Trojans to the infected computer.
Once present, Trojans present risk to not only the users' machine, but to the entire organizational network. Proper removal typically requires quick research on the particular infection to select the appropriate removal process and, in certain instances, may require the computer drives to be formatted, essentially re-building the PC for the user. Spyware Function
Numbers exceed 100% because many Spyware installs have multiple purposes.
Source: Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington
How does it get there?
Spyware applications are often installed on a user's PC without his/her knowledge by being bundled with freeware or shareware applications. Common culprits are sites that provide 'free' screensavers, wallpaper, and games that are bundled with Spyware. Sometimes these sites even advertise free Spyware removal tools!
Alternatively, applications can be installed without consent through browser vulnerabilities that permit automatic 'drive-by' downloads simply by visiting a site. Often Spyware includes code used to gather and transmit information about a user's online activity/behavior to a third party. This statistical data can be used harmlessly for targeted marketing purposes. However, in an ever growing number of cases, the intent is to report to an external organization particular vulnerabilities that exist on a specific computer - allowing future contact for harm.)
One way you can help prevent some of the attacks is to keep your computer turned off if you are not going to use it for most of the day. If your computer is turned off you can't receive or transmit anything from your computer.
I hope this bit of info is of some help in fighting these attacks.
Talk to you all soon,
RJ
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