Just! visiting a Web site or clicking on a Web ad can install a
Spyware app.
You don’t know how you got it installed on your PC...
It could of been a "drive-by-down-load." If your Internet security controls aren't properly set, or you installed some program that you took as some new thing that would help you chat with your friends, share MP3’s ... Better yet you clicked on one of them moving popup internet ad’s that just appeared out of know where.
What Is Spyware and Adware?
Adware, being a type of spyware that reports back on a subject's activities to serve up
targeted advertising, and this covers only a portion of the spyware on the loose.
Companies like DoubleClick use small files called cookies to track you online.
Others, like WinWhatWhere, sell key loggers, which let others see your every keystroke. Trojan horses like Back Orifice and NetBus let hackers not only track your behavior but even take control of your PC.
Spyware can reach your PC without your knowledge or explicit approval. This is always the case with ad cookies...
More worrying are applications like Xupiter that install themselves on the sly. Trojans and certain key loggers weasel onto your system in much the same way. Some may be mailed to you disguised as something useful. And of course, anyone with access to your machine can install a system monitor.
In all likelihood, however, you willingly installed much of your spyware yourself when downloading another application. Most file-sharing services--Napster-like tools for trading MP3s and other files across the Internet--are bundled with spyware.
That's how file-sharing vendors make money while not charging for their products. In a sense, you are paying, but the coin is privacy, not money.
The Grokster service, for example, includes Gator eWallet.
This program seems innocuous. It can learn user names, passwords, credit card numbers, addresses, and so on, to help fill in online forms. But it sends information about you, your computer, and your online behavior to Gator's Web site.
How much privacy can spyware cost you?
With ad-cookies from a company like DoubleClick, you may not have lost much, but there are circumstances in which cookies can be used against you
(see www.pcmag.com "Reader Sdrveillance Report").
Spyware like Xupiter and Gator eWallet is different. According to Xupiter's privacy policy, the company records more, including Web log information, IP addresses, browser type and versions, screen resolution, time zone, and version numbers of some software installed on your computer. Gator claims not to collect IP addresses, but it gathers "what software is on the personal computer," your "first name, country, and five-digit ZIP code," and more.
The added danger is that these companies will pass this information on.
When you first read Xupiter's privacy policy, you might think the company closely guards the data it gathers. "Only employees of Xupiter and its licensor will be authorized to have access to this information," it says. But who are Xupiter's licensors?
The threat posed by key loggers, system monitors, and Trojans is even greater. A key logger can record anything you type, including your passwords, e-mail messages, realtime chats, and credit card numbers, and can even spy via Webcams attached to your PC. This information can be stored locally or silently sent out via e-mail.
Believe it or not, spyware isn't always illegal. State and federal antihacking statutes say that without a contract, no one is allowed to deploy this sort of software. With certain types of spyware, however--for example, file-sharing services like
Grokster--you actually agree to a contract. There's a long list of "terms and conditions" you must accept on installation; by doing so, you give permission to install other apps, often including spyware. Of course, almost no one reads the contract.
Sometimes, you tacitly agree to a contract. DoubleClick, for example, doesn't explicitly ask to load its ad cookies, but its partner sites' privacy policies explain the process. Visiting those sites is tantamount to approving their cookies.
Carefully read every EULA, and don't agree to anything or provide any personal information that's not required. If some of these dubious applications require personal data, you may want to consider giving out false information...
If you want to share music and other files using a free utility, you may just have to accept a certain amount of spyware.
There's no good reason for file sharing apps or any of the things they bring along to know anything about you.
What Can You Do?
Clean out spyware daily, weekly, or monthly, regular removal will protect both your privacy and your productivity. That way, you'll minimize the impact of the added software.
That best way to protect against spyware is to run an application that identifies and removes it.
Here, we review nine software packages that sweep away everything from
cookies to adware to Trojans. These tools operate much like antivirus software.
Their developers have identified hundreds of spyware files, folders, and Registry keys and search for them on your hard drive, offering to remove them when
they turn up.
Like virus developers, Internet spymasters race to stay ahead of removal products successfully, it seems, for the moment. And since many are free or offer free scanners, we recommend you at least scan your system to find out what's really on your PC....
The above information was pulled from the 86 PC MAGAZINE APRIL 22, 2003 www.pcmag.com We at ComputerCorps would like to thank PC MAGAZINE for the liberty and use of this article.
Downloads
a free anti-spyware program:
Ad-awareSE
by: Lavasoft
Spybot - Search & Destroy
by: PepiMK Software
