NCWC: Information About Spyware

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This article will inform you about: what Spyware is, the problem with Spyware, how it affects you, how to detect and remove Spyware, and where to find additional Spyware resources.

What is "Spyware"?

There are four general types of software out there:

Freeware - This type of software is available for free, no strings attached, usually online. You can download, install, and use it as often as you want.

Shareware - This type of software is usually distributed free of charge, but you're expected to pay a small fee to the author if you like it and use it on a regular basis.

For-pay Software - This type of software is purchased online or in a retail store. You must purchase a license for the right to use the software.

Ad-ware - This type of software, usually available online, is offered to the user at no charge. However, the author of the software desires to be paid, so he incorporates advertising technology into the software. As a result, you get the software for free, but you have to view banner ads while using the software. Sometimes ad-ware is offered also in a for-pay version that does not include the ads, giving you a choice from free and ads, or for-pay without ads.

However, there is a major catch with most ad-ware programs. In order to deliver the advertising to you, the installation program for the software not only installs the program you want, but also installs additional tracking software without your knowledge.

This tracking software monitors your surfing habits and sends this data back "home" any time you're online, again without your knowledge. The advertising company analyzes the data and uses it to deliver targeted ads to you when you use the software. For example, if you have visited several web sites checking out DVDs, this information will be sent back to the marketing company, resulting in them displaying DVD-related advertisements when you use the software.

Therefore, any software that tracks users' surfing habits, abuses a user's Internet connection to secretly send data "home", or employs any other techniques to profile or gather data about a user without express permission is called "Spyware".

Spyware also comes in other forms such as cookies that track your surfing habits.

Here are a few examples of common Spyware programs and what they do:

Gator's (Claria Corporation) webform completion and password saving software includes Offercompanion, which is advertising software, tracking your surfing habits, sending info home, and displaying ads. It is also said to replace the website's advertising with its own.
Download programs like NetZip's Download Demon, Netscape/AOL's SmartDownload, and Real Network's RealDownload keep track of every file you download and assign you a unique ID number, enabling them to keep a detailed record of any files you download off the Internet.
Aureate/Radiate secretly installs itself, tracks information, has the capability of installing additional software without your knowledge, hides itself, and is responsible for browser crashes.
Ezula's TOPText/ContextPro/HOTText inserts ads in web pages that you view without your or the web site's webmaster's consent.
Peer-to-peer file sharing software such as KazaA, Gnutella, Grokster, Limewire, Morpheus, BearShare, iMesh and the likes have been known to secretly install Spyware on users' machines that collects and sends personal data to another web address.

Other names you might recognize that also fall into this category are CometCursor, BonziBuddy, Alexa, RealJukebox, and many more.

What's the problem?

Spyware enables advertising and marketing companies to gather data about you without your knowledge, abuse your Internet connection to send the data back to them, analyze and profile the data, then use it for their own profit by selling advertisement.

This is an inexcusable invasion of someone's privacy. If someone asked you if it's ok for them to look over your shoulder while you surf, make notes of sites and products you view (which SLOWS down your ability to surf the web), put this information into a database, use this information to serve you annoying ads (which further SLOWS down your ability to surf the web) and on top of that make money off of it, would you say "Yes, sure, go ahead?" I didn't think so!

Some of the companies defend themselves by pointing out that they clearly disclaim their practices in the fine print. However, when users are properly informed of the dangers of and annoyances caused by Spyware, they will decline an installation.

The majority of companies distributing Spyware are very covert about it and take extra steps to hide the presence and activity of their Spyware components, thus making it even more despicable.

In addition, Spyware encourages and enhances annoying pop-up ads and flashing banners, wastes your bandwidth, screen real estate, time, and disk space.

Some Spyware has been known to cause stability problems and computer crashes.

Other Spyware offers a serious security risk by opening a backdoor on your system. This makes your computer vulnerable to virus attacks and allows others to secretly install software on your computer.

How does that affect me?

Spyware components can change or alter your computer’s WINSOCK configurations. This can absolutely crush your North Carolina Wesleyan College (WESLINK) network settings, thus destroying your computer’s ability to access the network, chat with your friends using "Instant Messaging" applications, or surf the web.

Moreover, obviously you do not want a computer that:

spies on your surfing habits
gathers personal data about you and sends it to marketing companies
takes up your bandwidth
crashes your browser
bombards you with more advertising
secretly installs unknown software
opens up secret backdoors

Therefore it is important to keep your computer free of such malicious software.

How do I detect and remove Spyware?

Some Spyware can be removed via the Add/Remove Programs applet in the Windows Control Panel, provided you know it's there and what its name is. Some of it can be removed manually. Some of it is difficult to remove due to hidden files and registry keys. In order to effectively check and clean up your system you need a more aggressive approach.

Currently the most complete Spyware detection and removal tool is a freeware program called Ad-Aware offered by the German company Lavasoft. You can download it at no charge from their web site at http://www.lavasoft.de/support/download/.

Download and install Ad-aware on your machine. Before you use it, you will need to download the latest signature file from the same page and extract it into the Ad-aware program directory, overwriting an earlier version of the signature file.

Once installed, run Ad-ware by clicking the icon in the start menu. The program is pretty self-explanatory and walks you through the process of scanning your hard drives and registry, identifying Spyware components, and removing them.

If you have questions about the software or need help, Ad-aware comes with a good manual, which is accessible from the Start menu.

Additional Resources

http://www.cexx.org/adware.htm
http://grc.com/optout.htm
http://www.lavasoft.de/
http://www.wilders.org/spyware.htm
http://www.spychecker.com/
http://www.tom-cat.com/spybase/spylist.html

- Alex -

Information Systems
3400 N. Wesleyan Blvd
Rocky Mount, NC 27804
(252) 984-5000