Spyware: The Latest Scourge of the Internet
Issue No. 18
What is spyware?
Spyware is exactly what it sounds like, that is, software that spies on your computer. Spyware comes in various forms. Some spyware is installed on your computer to track your Internet surfing habits. This information is then sold and used by vendors to target you for advertising. The advertising appears as pop-up ads, email, or ads on web sites. Gathering this specific marketing information can be very lucrative, and even large companies such as investment companies, banks, and telecommunications companies use spyware.
Other spyware is used for more malicious purposes. Some spyware is used to redirect you to a web site that looks authentic but is really bogus. For example, spyware may direct you to a site that looks like your credit card company’s web site but is really a fake site used to get you to enter personal information that then can be used for financial gain.
The most intrusive spyware gathers personal information from your PC either by searching for the information in your computer files or by recording and then decoding your keystrokes. This personal information can be used for identity theft and for access to your financial assets such as your bank account, your credit card, and your investment accounts.
In addition to gathering information about you and your computer use, spyware can take control of your computer resources slowing your computer down to a complete halt. And, it can take control of your browser, redirecting you to websites that you don’t want to surf, such as pornographic web sites, and changing the home page of your browser.
One characteristic of spyware is that it runs without your knowledge on your PC. When you shop online, or use certain websites, you may agree to have cookies or other files loaded onto your computer. However, you are aware of these files either because you had to select the “I Agree” button before you could continue with whatever process you were completing, or because supposedly you read the “Privacy Policy” and “Terms of Use” statements that legitimate web sites usually display on their home page. These files are not considered spyware because you are aware of and agreed to have them loaded onto your computer.
How does spyware get on your computer?
Spyware can be loaded on your computer in a number of ways. Selecting a website link can load spyware. Opening an email attachment can load spyware. And you know those pop-up ads to which you select “No” in answer to a question about downloading software? Selecting that “No” can load spyware onto your computer. Downloading free software, such as screen savers, music-sharing programs, and games is another way of loading spyware. The popular Kazaa file-sharing program downloads spyware that tracks your Internet surfing habits and sends this information to advertisers who can then display pop-up ads.
Don’t think you have spyware on your PC? Think again. In a study conducted by EarthLink and by Webroot Software, 1.5 millions scans of PCs found an average of 28 instances of spyware per computer. According to National Cyber Security Alliance, 80 percent of computers nationwide have spyware on them. The problem is so large that Congress and many states are enacting anti-spyware laws just as they have enacted anti-spam laws and anti-phone solicitor laws. Still think spyware doesn’t affect you? Download one of the free anti-spyware programs listed below and run it on your computer. You might be surprised. Even Bill Gates recently found spyware on his computer.
And Stanford Wallace of Richboro, Pennsylvania, the so called “Spam King” recently had a federal lawsuit filed against him for allegedly using spyware to generate ads and other programs on computers to slow the computers down and aggravate the users, and then trying to sell programs that he claimed would fix the problems.
How do you get rid of spyware?
As is typical in the computer industry, once some annoying or malicious software is created, “anti” software is created to work against the new threat. Just like there is anti-virus software, there is anti-spyware software. You can use this software to remove spyware. And as is typical, there are many different anti-spyware packages available. Two sites that review anti-spyware include ConsumerReports.com or Anti-Spyware-Review.. Several of the software applications are free (for example, Lavasoft Ad-aware 6 Standard available from LavasoftUSA.com and Spybot-Search & Destroy, so you have no excuse not to have at least one type of anti-spyware program.
Spyware is the latest scourge of the Internet world. But just like with spam, you can take steps to eliminate it. However, it is up to you to act before your computer comes to a grinding halt and crashes.