The Threat of Spyware: Devouring Your System and Your Privacy
A recent AOL/National Security Alliance study conducted in 354 homes found that 61% of users had spyware installed on their computers. Recent studies have also shown that 83 percent of computers are infected with some form of spyware and that 89 percent of consumers are unaware that they have spyware. Spyware can be devastating to both system performance and your privacy. Fortunately, existing security technology can keep this threat from damaging your computer, draining your productivity, and possibly even stealing your identity.
It can sometimes be difficult to tell if spyware or adware has been installed on your computer. A good rule of thumb is this: if you have not taken steps to actively prevent the installation of spyware on your computer, it’s likely that your system is infected. A few signs that your system is infected with spyware include:
1) Your Web browser opens to a different home page
2) Your system’s desktop has extra icons on it and you have no idea how they got there, or your browser has an extra toolbar on it that you did not install.
3) Your “Favoriates” list in your Web browser has pages listed on it that you didn’t put there.
4) As you are browsing, you notice an unusually large number of pop-up ads. Often the pop-ups are completely unrelated to the sites that you are browsing.
5) Your system takes longer to boot up, or just operates slower than normal.
This is how your system gets infected: while you are browsing sites on the Web, small computer programs are at work behind the scenes, gathering information about what you do, who you are, and who your friends are. These little programs gather this information and transmit it to a secret host somewhere on the network. On the other end of that connection, someone takes that information and uses it to send you spam email, or to send pop-up advertisements to your screen. Worse, they may be using the transmitted information to steal your identity!
It’s called spyware, and it’s the greatest threat to ever hit the Internet. In its most seemingly innocuous form, it’s called adware, and is delivered to your computer–usually without your knowledge–as part of some other program or utility. But while suffering through a few ads may seem like a small price to pay for that cool new game you downloaded, think again. The licensing terms of the adware you clicked on very likely allows the adware company to sell information to third parties. It also allows them to insert that piece of software onto your PC, which ultimately eats bandwidth as it constantly transmits information back to the host. Before you know it, you’re killing pop-ups every ten seconds, you are drowning in spam, and your system crashes on a daily basis.
Because adware and spyware programs are stand-alone programs, they can be designed to do just about anything on your computer. Not only can they track your browsing habits, they can also be designed to examine the contents of your disk drive, copy files from them and transmit them elsewhere on the network, change system files, change registry settings, steal passwords or even credit card number if they are stored on your system.
Getting rid of spyware can be difficult - since it lands on your system in any of a variety of ways and can affect your system in many different ways. It is highly advisable that you install anti-spyware software, but doing that alone will not provide you with a complete solution. Here are a few things that you can do to keep spyware from compromising your system:
1) Keep your anti-virus software up to date. Many (but not all) spyware programs are classified by anti-virus packages as Trojans, and will be caught by the anti-virus software.
2) Implement a URL filtering solution. Some spyware programs launch automatically when certain web pages are visited. Porn sites are notorious for containing spyware. A good URL filter will prevent users from accessing web sites that are likely to contain spyware.
3) Be especially wary of email attachments from unknown senders. Spammers email attachments in an attempt to trick you into clicking on them. When you do - you get a special delivery of spyware.
4) If you use a firewall, disallow certain file types that are likely to be spyware, such as .exe or .vbs files, Java, or ActiveX.
5) Don’t use Internet Messaging or Peer to Peer file sharing programs. If you decide to, be carefull while doing so. Always know ahead of time what you’re downloading and who it’s from. These types of programs are notorious as conduits for spyware.