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.
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Numbers exceed 100% because many Spyware installs have multiple purposes.
Source: Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington
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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.
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Definitions
Spware
Trojan Horse
Malware
Adware
Spyware Study-PDF
A Crawler-based Study of Spyware on the Web
This 17 page PDF report was recently published online by the Department of Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Washington
Cyberthieves Silently Copy as You Type
NY Times Feb 27, 06. (Free Subscription may be required)
AOL/NCSA Online Safety Study
PDF Report - A December 2005 study by America Online and the National Cyber Security Alliance found that 60 percent of PCs were infected by some form of Spyware.
Spyware Triples During 2005
InformationWeek: Spyware tripled during 2005, became ever-more sophisticated and stealthy, and attached itself to U.S. computers at rates above any other country, a security company says.
Editors' Note: Tech News does not endorse any particular software provider listed in this article.
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