Spyware

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 * Spyware** is a software that is designed to damage and take partial control of a computer system without the user’s permission. It differs from a virus because it doesn't replicate itself or infect other computer systems. Users can voluntarily download softwares, games, or downloads that look attactive without knowing that spywares are the 'hidden components' of freeware or shareware programs. Spywares softwares are capable of monitoring keystrokes, scan files on hard drive, browse through programs such as e-mail, chats, or even word documents, and slow down the computer system because it is bombarded with spywares.(webopedia) Spywares mainly gathers data for advertisement purposes which are approved beforehand by advertising agencies. But some spywares are hidden inside games or softwares which are created by hackers looking for personal information inputted by the users such as bank card and credit card numbers or track users surfing habits. The user is not aware of the fact that their computer system has a backdoor which welcomes the hacker into the system and take control from anywhere.

=History of Spyware=

The term Spyware was first coined with a post on a Microsoft forum on October 16, 1995 ridiculing Microsoft’s business model, and was later used to refer to espionage equipment such as spy cameras and microphones. Programs that monitor a user’s activities were not called spyware until a software company called Zone Alarms used the phrase to describe the programs that its firewall product protected against. Spyware was not considered to be a major problem until 1999 when it was discovered that the popular flashed based game “Elf Bowling” contained Spyware.

The popular freeware game gathered a user’s personal information and transmitted it to the developers Nsoft. Nsoft, however, denied that their product contained any software that violated usersconfidentiality.

The first appearance of anti-spyware software was called OptOpt in the 2000. OptOpt developer, Steve Gibson of Gibson Research, was the first to formally introduce Spyware and defined it as, “any software that employs a user's Internet connection in the background (the so-called 'backchannel') without their knowledge or explicit permission.”

=Types of Spyware=

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__//This dialogue box, the (!) mark, the hour glass and the writings all jump up and down.//__**



**Advertisements**
Many spyware programs appears by displaying advertisments also known as an //adware//. Pop-up ads are very popular because when a user links to a website, they are likely to experience many pop-up ads. Advertisers benefits when users clicks on the pop-up windows and doesn't even realize they allowed a spyware to be installed into their computer system. When the user visits a website, the site automatically installs the spyware onto the machines quickly which generates revenues for the installing site and to the software company by displaying ads as a pop-up. Also, there are banner ads that appears on top of the website or as a sidebar. Many banner ads use animations, flickering banners, or even voice activated ads to catch users attention. They are one of the most distracting type of hidden 'spyware' available on websites.

An example of a voice activated banner is where a talking character moves around with the motion of the mouse and verbally sends messages requesting the user to try their service.Many people clicks on those and realizes that it was nothing. Where as in fact, a spyware was installed.

After spywares are installed, users are being monitored to build a marketing profile by using the process of datamining. After marketers know what the user is interested in, user is constantly being bombarded with pop-up ads that involves the users interest. Secondly, infected computers are exploited for commercial gain. They will go to an extent of stealing personal information or credit card numbers to keep a detailed profile of the users. Many pop-up windows are not in the form of advertisement. They are in the form of warning messages from windows that looks like a dialogue box. They look real, and confuses the user and makes them wonder if something is really wrong with their computer system because the warning mentions that it detects that something is wrong with the computer and gives users an option for fixing it. Infact, users click YES or NO and finds out that it led them into a website full of unnecessary information.

Other dialogue boxes with only a company name pops up that requires the user to either click, yes, no or more information. Users usually don't click more information because they don't bother reading everything since they want their webpage to quickly load for viewing. The user blindly clicks either yes or no so they can view the page they are currently on and doesn't realize that spywares are automatically downloaded into their computers. Below is an example of the dialogue box with barely hasany information about the company but still requires users approval by fooling them.



People loves using the internet because of the free stuff available (freeware) but downloading free material off the internet can harm users computer because spyware is constantly being installed without users knowledge. Which means, all the spyware accumulates and slows down the computer. These spywares can pop up anytime because no one can control them.



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**Downloaded Files**
Some spywares are in the form of a Bundled Spyware. When the user installs the software, without permission, spywares are automatically and forcefully installed without any notification. Spywares doesn't harm the computer system like a virus but the spyware does collect personal information and slows down the performance of the computer overtime. When users are downloading music files, images, videos, and movies from kaaza, there is a high probability of spywares being embedded within. In addition, some spywares can harm the computer and the user because some of these spywares can read, write or delete important data, reformat the hard drive, and make changes to the whole computer system as it sends back information to the advertising agency or hackers.

Difference between Ad agencies and hackers Hackers controlling the spywares are more dangerous for the user than the advertising agency. Advertising agencies collects personal information and gathers information to analyze and correctly target the user with products of their company. But hackers can corrupt someones computer system, steal the user's identity, and use the personal information to ruin someones life or sell the information to someone else.

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**On Screen Software Agents**
Desktop buddies are very popular because they are characters that often swing in from the middle of the computer or performs a dance for the user. Bonzi Buddy is a purple ape that appears as a banner and a pop-up window. The banner actually shows the talking monkey announcing to the users what he is able to do. He can sing, talk, tell jokes, share facts, check e-mail, be an alarm clock, act as a reminder, a well wisher and lastly delivers voice advertisements. Children usually believes that the purple ape is entertaining, so they click on it and have spywares automatically be installed. In fact, once Bonzi Buddy is installed, users homepage is resetted to [|www.bonzi.com]. In addition, music lovers can also add a desktop dancer/stripper that dances to users favourite Mp3 songs. It dances to the beats, entertains the user, and installs spywares. Advertisers main goal is to uses desirable 'buddies' to carry their advertisements to the users and bonzi buddy is a really 'friendly' approach to get exposed to advertising.

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**Cookies**
Cookies are small text files that displays all the information about the websites the user visits. It displays how long the user has been on it, what kinds of products the user browsed through, what options they clicked and all other actions the user performed online. Good cookies usually stores information to enrich the users surfing experience. But bad cookies can be intrusive. Spyware cookies are bad cookies which collects free marketing data to promote products and services targetted towards the users interest. The same cookies are stored in the computer and used to track what the user usually visits, what kind of products are being looked at and what are their likes and dislikes. If a user types its personal information on a non-encrypted online form, it is very easy for the cookies to collect that information and use it for marketing purposes. Read More

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Database Marketing
Although this form of marketing is used by many sellers, it could be considered similar to spyware. This is used when advertisers store certain information about different users, such as their web trends to that they can issue them personalized messages. When an individual fills out a form to obtain a discount card for example, he/she gives out confidential information such as the address, number and income which are later inputted into large databases and sold to advertisers.

=Effects and Behaviors=

If many spywares has been installed onto one computer system, it is likely that the system will slow down. Users will notice that the systems performance is degrading. Due to spywares, their might be stability issues such as application or computer shutdowns.

In addition, large number of spyware companies are linked to pornography industry. There is no such control of pop up windpws on the internet. In fact, adults are not the only users of the internet because children uses the internet for educational purposes, games, chat or email. But if a child is exposed to pornography, then the computer isn't safe for children at all, which also breaks legal laws about children being exposed to pornography.

Identity theft is a major issue when a user is carrying out most of their activities online. In fact, users usually give out their personal information such as their birth date, name, address, and even credit card numbers. Spywares track the personal information which are sent to either advertising agencies or hackers. Advertising agencies will use the information to target specific products at the user or sell the information to someone else. But a hacker can attempt to steal the users identity and ruin someone else's life by keeping track of their actions.

Lastly, spywares installed in the system has the ability to scan the hard drive, monitor keystroking, scan through important documents or conversations, read, write and delete all the important information, and take control of the whole computer from any location.

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=Legal Issues=

When websites and advertisers are accessing personal computers of anonymous user, it is considered to be illegal under computer crime laws such as the United States Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This law is imposed because users has all agreed that they never authorized any spyware downloads that appeared on pop-ups. In addition, many writers of spywares and advertisers who presented information of a different company on a pop-up ad has also faced lawsuits.

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=Prevention from Spywares=

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 * Users can always back-up their files or format and re-install the operating system.
 * Use Anti-spyware systems: searches and extracts the hidden spywares and removes them.
 * Lavasoft's //[|Ad-Aware SE]// is an anti spyware system to remove spyware programs.
 * Ad-Aware Personal protects users from known datamining.
 * Use network firewalls and web proxies to block websites that contains hidden spywares. It is capable of detecting and removing spywares.
 * Install a pop-up blocker to prevent spywares from popping up.
 * Microsoft offers a free beta version of their Spyware removal, which is quite effective and can be downloaded at the following [|link]

=Some Infected Victims=

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 * Free version of DivX
 * Peer-to-Peer (P2P): [|Kazaa], [|Limewire], and [|eDonkey]
 * Wild Tangent
 * AOL messenger

=External Links=

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 * [|Intelligent Software Agents]
 * [|Spyware News]

=Works Cited=
 * 1) "Spyware." Webopedia Dictionary. 19 Feb. 2006 .
 * 2) "Spyware." __Wikipedia__. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. 19 Feb. 2006 .
 * 3) Images Retreived from [|Smashit.com] and [|Google Search]

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