Different types of spyware

Spyware. Different Types
by: Leif Wheeler

Spywere is more dangerous than a virus. It can steal personal data and track your internet habits. It might be concealed in a free screensaver or other software that you download. Computer safety expert Leif Wheeler advises us to be aware of any offer of free software. Many times, spyware is hidden in legitimate software. Be cautious of deals offered by well-known companies. Crooks and thieves often create web sites that resemble Adobe, Google or Microsoft, says Wheeler. They instruct you to download upgrades which secretly contain spyware. Common sense should tell you to download things like screensavers or wallpaper only from a company's registered web site. Have a safety talk with anyone who uses your computer. Run an anti-spyware application. The schemes for stealing are the same, notes Wheeler. What's changed is the technology. The rest of us have to try to stay one step ahead.

There is a type of spywere that the New York Times has labeled as “Stealware” and what spyware researcher Ben Edelman refers to as “Click Fraud”, also known as “Affiliate Fraud”. The most notable vendors of this kind of spyware are 180 Solutions and WhenU. This spyware redirects the payment of the rightful affiliate’s commission to the account of the spyware vendor.

An instance of spyware rarely "exists" alone. An afflicted computer can rapidly become corrupted with a lot of spyware devices. Frequently, users will notice erratic behavior and a decline of the system’s operation. Spyware contamination can cause considerable inappropriate CPU activity, network traffic, disk usage and the slowing-down of the legitimate uses of these resources. Stability issues, system crashes and application crashes are also very common. Spyware which disrupts the networking software normally causes problems connecting to the Internet.

A Trojan horse, by definition, sneaks in a danger-some program cloaked as something acceptable. Many spywares get spread in this way. The representative of the spyware presents the program as a suitable utility, for example, as useful software or as a web-accelerator. Users then install the software not suspecting that it could do harm to their computer. A classic case of this is Bonze Buddy, a spyware application designed to trick children, claims that: “He will explore the Internet with you as your very own friend and sidekick! He can talk, walk, joke, browse, search, e-mail, and download like no other friend you've ever had! He even has the ability to compare prices on the products you love and help you save money! Best of all, he's FREE!”

Often times, spyware programs are revealed by visibly presenting advertisements. Some spyware simply displays pop-up ads on a pre-determined schedule. For example, a pop-up may appear when the user opens a new browser window. Yet other types display ads when the user visits a specific type of site. Spywere developers use this as a selling point when pitching their wares to advertisers who want to buy ad placement in pop-ups shown when the user lands on a particular site. It is also one of the reasons why spyware programs collect and store information on user behavior.



About The Author

Leif Wheeler began marketing on the internet in 1992 and he retired in 2004. Leif’s internet-time is now spent researching and writing articles that improve everyone’s internet experience. Benefit from Leif’s vast experience at http://www.leifwheeler.com/

Article from http://articlecity.com

Antispyware history

The first recorded use of the term spyware occurred on October 17, 1994 in a Usenet post that poked fun at Microsoft's business model. Spyware later came to refer to espionage equipment such as tiny cameras. However, in early 2000 the founder of Zone Labs, Gregor Freund, used the term in a press release for the ZoneAlarm Personal Firewall. Since then, computer-users have used the term in its current sense.

In early 2000, Steve Gibson of Gibson Research realized that advertising software had been installed on his system, and he suspected that the software was stealing his personal information. After analyzing the software he determined that they were adware components from the companies Aureate (later Radiate) and Conducent. He eventually rescinded his claim that the ad software collected information without the user's knowledge, but still chastised the ad companies for covertly installing the spywere and making it difficult to remove.

As a result of his analysis in 2000, Gibson released the first anti-spyware program, OptOut, and many more software-based antidotes have appeared since then. International Charter now offers softwere developers a Spyware-Free Certification program.

According to a November 2004 study by AOL and the National Cyber-Security Alliance, 80% of surveyed users' computers had some form of spywere, with an average of 93 spyware components per computer. 89% of surveyed users with spyware reported that they did not know of its presence, and 95% reported that they had not given permission for the installation of the spyware.

from Wikipedia

McAfee, Inc launches Stop Spyware initiative

McAfee, Inc (NYSE: MFE), a provider of intrusion prevention and risk management solutions, announced the beginning of McAfee Stop Spyware Week, an initiative that is designed to raise awareness of the threats posed by spyware and other potentially unwanted programs (PUPs).

In a study conducted by the National Cyber Security Alliance, 53% of respondents said they had spyware on their computers, but when checked, 80% of computers were infected with spyware. Separate research by the Ponemon Institute showed that 42% of computer users infected with spyware had no idea how it landed on their computer.

In addition to increasing awareness of spyware and PUPs, the aim of the initiative is to educate people about the threats of PUPs and provide tips for avoiding potential infections. Computer users can visit http://www.mcafee.com/stopspyware to download a free trial to one of McAfee's anti-spyware software programs, the company claims.

Spy Sweeper - not free but good anti spywere

Spy Sweeper detects and removes all forms of spyware, including keyloggers, trojan horses, system monitors, and more.
Spy Sweeper proactively defends your PC from new spyware infections with 16 Smart Shields.
* Recommended more than any other anti-spyware product
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* FREE world-class customer support
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FREE Spyware Scan

Find spyware on your PC now using Spy Sweeper's state-of-the-art anti-spyware technology.
The free scan is:

* Safe - won't change, or remove files on your computer
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* Effective - find out if your PC is infected with spyware

Download spyware scanner to see if your PC has a spyware infection, or if you're evaluating anti-spyware tools, such as Spy Sweeper.
Download free spywere scaner

Spyware history

Spywere history
from wikipedia

The first recorded use of the term spyware occurred on October 17, 1994 in a Usenet post that poked fun at Microsoft's business model. Spyware later came to refer to espionage equipment such as tiny cameras. However, in early 2000 the founder of Zone Labs, Gregor Freund, used the term in a press release for the ZoneAlarm Personal Firewall. Since then, computer-users have used the term in its current sense.

In early 2000, Steve Gibson of Gibson Research realized that advertising software had been installed on his system, and he suspected that the software was stealing his personal information. After analyzing the software he determined that they were adware components from the companies Aureate (later Radiate) and Conducent. He eventually rescinded his claim that the ad software collected information without the user's knowledge, but still chastised the ad companies for covertly installing the spyware and making it difficult to remove.

As a result of his analysis in 2000, Gibson released the first anti-spyware program, OptOut, and many more software-based antidotes have appeared since then. International Charter now offers software developers a Spyware-Free Certification program.

According to a November 2004 study by AOL and the National Cyber-Security Alliance, 80% of surveyed users' computers had some form of spyware, with an average of 93 spyware components per computer. 89% of surveyed users with spyware reported that they did not know of its presence, and 95% reported that they had not given permission for the installation of the spyware.

Spywarebot - free anti spywere tool

Another free anti spyware tool is Spywarebot.
It can scan your computer for hidden AdWare and Spyware, and remove them. Spywarebot can block adware and spyware before getting in your computer. And, Spyware bot notifie you when a spyware application attempts to run on your computer.

Spyware.EmailObserver

After removing this spywere with anti spywere tool you have, open registry and delete :
"EmailObserver" = "C:\WINDOWS\system32\emos.exe /config"
from
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Run

and delete subkeys
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\EmailObserver
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\emos
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\emossrv.

Than, restart your computer.

Windows defender - anti spywere

Microsoft made their own anti spyware tool called Windows defender.
They say good thing about it, so read their review:

Windows Defender (Beta 2) is a free program that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software. It features Real-Time Protection, a monitoring system that recommends actions against spyware when it's detected, and a new streamlined interface that minimizes interruptions and helps you stay productive.

Spybot - Search & Destroy - free anti spywere

Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer. Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you didn't intentionally install, if your browser crashes, or if you browser start page has changed without your knowing, you most probably have spyware. But even if you don't see anything, you may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is silently tracking your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies. Spybot-S&D is free, so there's no harm in trying to see if something snooped into your computer, too :)

What is spywere?

Spyware
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


In the field of computing, the term spyware refers to a broad category of malicious software designed to intercept or take partial control of a computer's operation without the informed consent of that machine's owner or legitimate user. While the term taken literally suggests software that surreptitiously monitors the user, it has come to refer more broadly to software that subverts the computer's operation for the benefit of a third party.

Spyware differs from viruses and worms in that it does not usually self-replicate. Like many recent viruses, however, spyware – by design – exploits infected computers for commercial gain. Typical tactics furthering this goal include delivery of unsolicited pop-up advertisements; theft of personal information (including financial information such as credit card numbers); monitoring of Web-browsing activity for marketing purposes; or routing of HTTP requests to advertising sites.

As of 2005, spyware has become one of the pre-eminent security threats to computer-systems running Microsoft Windows operating-systems (and especially to users of Internet Explorer because of that browser's collaboration with the Windows operating system). Some malware on the Linux and Mac OS X platforms has behavior similar to Windows spyware, but to date has not become anywhere near as widespread.