Archive for the ‘Spyware’ Category

By: Brad L Hodges

Spyware, Adware and Malware.  Sounds like a foreign language to many people but these words spell only one thing to you and your privacy, computer security and peace of mind and that is DANGER. These are very real threats in today’s Internet and computer centered society and you need to know how to protect yourself and your loved ones from “The Eyes That Spy” that lurk behind your innocent looking computer screen.

Alive and Thriving

You would think that with contemporary software protection these threats would have diminished but the ugly truth is that they have not only gotten more sophisticated but the ante has simply been raised and it has become more of a challenge to hackers and others who have iniquitous intentions.

It is a constant and classic battle between “good” and “evil”; the “good” being software and hardware developers who spend billions of dollars trying to stay one step ahead of the malcontents and the “evil” who range from discontented and bored teen-age hackers to foreign adversaries of the United States intent on disrupting our society and financial systems.

In other words it is a cat and mouse game, or to use another metaphor a chess game where each move is countered with another in a never ending game to come out the winner. Newton’s laws of motion; To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction can be translated in the world of Spyware, Adware and Malware as; for every cure or measure of protection for a computer virus there is an equal and opposite virus or countermeasure.

The Perpetrators

Well regulated “cyber-criminals” continuously refine their methods of attack, often capitalizing on both software and human behavior, while avoiding security threat scanners via automated repackaging and discombobulation of malicious software. Amazingly these cyber-criminals go to great lengths, keeping an eye on news stories, keyword searches and current events and who use to their advantage Internet analytics to carry out and spread monumental assaults. These miscreants of society aspire to convince users to open an e-mail attachment or click on an enticing link. They even go to extremes by duping individuals via social networking sites or corrupted search engine results.

Statistics *

A sampling of malware file types taken during the first six months of 2009 found that Windows Portable Executable (PE) files accounted for 92% of the total collection. The use of executable files allows attackers to perpetrate further malicious activities following a successful attack. This time period also shows a significant increase in the use of rich content and media files to perform malicious activity.

The most common threats were trojans, representing 71% of the total infections for the first half of 2009. The remaining 29% of threats were emerging threats where malicious code was used for targeted attacks, new threats and zero-day threats.

* Source: State of the Internet 2009: A Report on the Ever-Changing Threat Landscape. CA Internet Security Business Unit Internet Security Intelligence Report. See http://www.ca.com/us/securityadvisor/newsinfo/collateral.aspx?cid=223917 for complete report.

What To Watch For

Rogue Security Software

Among the greatest threats are what are referred to as “Rogue Security Software.” This type of software is an application that seems to be helpful but dispatches a fake marketing ruse – it produces a phony infection outcome and pledges to get rid of the “infected” files if the user installs the software on their computer. It actually delivers the complete opposite. Those who “bite” are assaulted with aggravating phony and fallacious warning messages which subjects them to yet more cyber dangers.

E-mail

E-mail, that bastion of modern communication, is the biggest apportion system for dangers. A staggering 80-90% of e-mail on the Internet is spam, and unfortunately spam (slang name for Unsolicited Commercial Email) more than likely includes links to maleficent or exploited websites. So called spammers distribute e-mail which exploit social engineering methods to convince individuals to join in their fraudulent schemes. Spam encompasses e-mail wherein the distributors likeness is fake or has been distributed via vulnerable SMTP servers, illegitimate proxies or bot-nets.

As discussed earlier these cyber punks continually take advantage of real events and news subjects to reach their objective of getting a malicious software program installed on your computer.

Commandeered Websites

It it unfortunate but a vast number of websites on the Internet have inadequate security measures in place, making them extremely subject to takeover by the perpetrators of cybercrime. Without adequate security cyber-criminals can deploy computerized assaults to insert malicious code to disseminate malware, spyware and adware infection undetected by the website proprietors. These sites become incubators from which attacks on your computer are spawned when you pay a visit to them.

Other Threats

There are many other ways that attacks can occur on your computer. Among them are “Search Engine Poisoning” whereby cyber-criminals use complex SEO (search engine optimization) to engineer rankings on search engines like Google to direct individuals to commandeered websites which results with malware infection. Malware infection can even occur and be distributed in and through PDF (Portable Document Format) files, GIF and JPEG files.

What You Can Do To Protect Yourself

First NEVER be complacent and think that these threats are not real or cannot happen to you. It is easy to do this because of the proliferation of media and news about these dangers that may lull one into thinking that only businesses or governments are attacked. What also happens is that so much information about this has been distributed that one can become “numb” to the threats and easily ignore the continual and real danger they present.

Educate Yourself

Like anything in life the more you know about something the more you are equipped, prepared and in tune to defend yourself from a potential threat. When it comes to spyware, malware and adware living in a constant state of “Code Yellow” is wise as you use your computer or the Internet.

Seeking out blogs or websites that specialize in these threats is not only prudent but a necessity if you are going to partake of modern technology. Those “spyware alert now” types of blogs and websites are an important piece of your defense and early warning systems. Refer to them often for up-to-date information and education on what to look for as far as the new types of threats on the Internet and against computer systems as well as intelligent recommendations for software products that will equip you at the maximum level of protection.

If you have children it is critical that child safety online now be deployed as there are specific threats that are aimed at children that include much of what is discussed in this article but also unique threats targeted at the vulnerability of children and teenagers. An all encompassing blog or website will include information on how to protect your children.

Did you experience any problems connecting to the Internet lately?

Did some of your software programs stop functioning?

Have you ever been annoyed by advertisements that suddenly pop up in your computer screen?

Have you ever wondered how some unidentified people are able to know your e-mail address and send you tons of junk mails?

Or worse, have you ever had cash stolen from your bank account or your credit card spending suddenly went haywire?

You most probably have been the victim of spyware.

What is a spyware?

In computer technology, spyware refers to a kind of program that “spies” on what users do with their computers.  Through this close monitoring, spyware gathers information about the user and sends this information over the World Wide Web for another person’s or a company’s benefit.  This is usually done without the user’s knowledge.

Spyware can gather numerous information on computer users.  Some programs are almost harmless since they only send off pop-up ads or attempt to follow the types of websites users visit and send the collected information to different advertisement agencies.  However, nastier versions may try to take note of what the users’ type in order to catch passwords or event credit card numbers.

How did spyware start?

According to records, the term “spyware” was first used on October 17, 1994 in a posting made on a globally distributed bulletin board system, Usenet.  Later on, spyware came to be known as espionage apparatus, like tiny cameras.  However, Gregor Freund, founder of Zone Labs (a security software company), used the term in one of his press releases for a product, sealing the word’s place in computer users’ lingo.

In 2000, Steve Gibson, owner of Gibson Research (a computer software development firm), found out that advertising software components from two companies had been installed in his system and even suspected them of collecting information without his knowledge.  He retracted this claim later on, but still he reprimanded the advertising companies Aureate and Conducent for secretly installing the spyware and giving him a hard time in removing it.

With this event, Gibson made and released OptOut, the first ever anti-spyware program.  Many others followed suit and came up with their own antidotes.

According to a survey conducted by the National Cyber-Security Alliance and AOL in 2004, a whopping 80% of computers had spyware, with almost 93 spyware workings per computer.  89% of the participants in the survey said they were not aware of the existence of the spyware, while 95% said they didn’t give any permission for the installation of any spyware program.

As of today, spyware has become the top and primary security threat to computer systems running under Microsoft Windows.  Internet Explorer users are targeted more often than not because of its popularity.

What are the sources of spyware?

Here are several sources of spyware infection:

• Utilities which claim to make your Internet experience faster
• Programs that are said to provide special offers while shopping via the Internet
• Programs that would give smileys, animated and colorful cursors, etc.
• File-sharing programs
• Spyware programs disguised as anti-spyware applications

How can you tell if your computer sustained spyware infection?

Here are clues that will help you determine if spyware is on your computer:

• Numerous pop-up advertisements, even on Internet sites that don’t usually have ads
• Numerous pop-up advertisements, even on Internet sites that don’t usually have ads
• The browser home page changes unexpectedly and won’t change back
• New and unfamiliar toolbars appear in the browser
• Additional icons appear at the corner of the screen where the clock is
• The browser takes you to websites you don’t want to be in the first place

How do you remove spyware from your computer?

After knowing some background information on what spyware is, its history and development, its sources, and the clues that your computer sustained spyware damage, let’s talk about solution to the problem.

The fastest and safest way by far to remove spyware from your computer is to use anti-spyware programs.  These applications are somewhat similar to anti-virus software.

Spybot and Ad-Aware are only two of the highly recommended programs for the safe removal of spyware programs.  You may check the Internet regarding how you can avail of these programs.

With the need we have for computers nowadays, it would be a very big hassle if they won’t work properly.  So make sure that your computers are in top condition.  Eliminate the spyware program in your computer today!