All About Spyware

Adware Nails MySpace Users

2006-07-21T12:08:00.000-07:00

Potentially more than one million MySpace users may have been infected with adware according to this article

The deckoutyourdeck.com advertisement exploited a flaw in the way Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) browser handles Windows Metafile (WMF) image files. Users running unpatched versions of IE would never have realized that the banner ad had silently installed programs that generate pop-up ads on their system.

"This is a criminal act," said Hemanshu Nigam, chief security office at MySpace, in a statement to The Washington Post. "This ad is being delivered by ad networks who distribute these ads to over a thousand sites across the Internet in addition to ours. We are working to have these ad networks remove this ad so that they do not appear on our site."

Hackers Learning From Open-Source

2006-07-18T05:58:00.000-07:00

Malware Now a Group Effort - Yahoo! News tells the story of hackers learning from the open-source playbook.

Nowhere is this more apparent than within the growing families of "bot" software, which allow hackers to remotely control infected computers. Unlike viruses of the past, bots tend to be written by a group of authors, who often collaborate by using the same tools and techniques as open source developers, said Dave Marcus, security research and communications manager with McAfee's Avert Labs.

"Over the last year and a half, we've noticed how bot development in particular has latched on to open-source tools and the open-source development model," he said.

The current generation of bot software has grown to the point where open-source software development tools make a natural fit. With hundreds of source files now being managed, developers of the Agobot family of malware, for example, are using the open-source Concurrent Versions System (CVS) software to manage their project.

Zango Spyware and MySpace

2006-07-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

Zango may installing spyware on unsuspecting MySpace user machines after the users click a video link, according to this article:

A serendipitous search by Vitalsecurity.org through the profiles on MySpace for adware companies revealed profiles belonging to Zango. The Zango profiles were crafted to push Zango's products to visitors.

One profile pushes a toolbar and programs for protecting "kids from predators," noted Vitalsecurity. The other profile launches what looks like a typical video player seen on many MySpace profiles when visited.

For the careless user who does not read the fine print in the popup video player, clicking the big red Play Now button places the Zango Search Assistant and its Toolbar on the user's system. It's a twist on the typical enticement to download software the user may not want if he actually knew what was being downloaded.

Spyware researcher Ben Edelman has studied many adware companies, and he has a couple of articles on experiences with 180's Zango. One of his articles described how Zango placed a .dat file on a test machine; that file was loaded with 166,246 words and phrases that were used to trigger popups from 180 when the PC visited certain sites.

How To Remove Spyware And Adware

2006-07-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

Spyware and Adware are very common on the internet now days. If you download music, picture, movies, and more on the internet, you are at a risk of having Spyware and Adware on your computer. Spyware and Adware can slow down your computer, give you nasty popup's and a lot of times have companies spy directly on your computer and steal your personal information. You do not have to deal with this anymore, you can actually remove spyware and adware, and you can remove it for free. The best way to remove spyware and adware are to download spyware removal tools. There are some spyware removal tools that are free, but the best ones you have to pay for. Since I am providing you with a free way to remove your virus, I am going to give you the top 3 free resources that will remove most of your spyware and adware from your computer.

1) Adaware 6.0 Adaware 6.0 is a free spyware and adware removal tool. It is definitely one of the best (if not the best) free spyware/adware removal tools. You get daily updates, easy to use interface, and fast scanning to delete the most common spyware and adware on your computer. One scanner will not do it all by itself though, which is why it is recommended to have up to 5 scanners protecting you sometimes. Overkill? Maybe. But is it worth protecting all your valuable information like Credit Cards? Yes!

2) Spybot Search and Destroy Although not as good as Adaware it comes in a close second. This program has an immuneizer built in that will automatically work with your internet browser to not allow you to go to known bad sites that give you viruses. This also enables you for free daily updates so you can be protected against the most common spyware/adware.

3) Spyware Blaster Spyware Blaster is not really a spyware/adware scanner, however it is a free tool that will keep your computer safe from disabling spyware/adware from downloading itself into your computer. With Spyware Blaster you eliminate spyware before it even comes on your computer, and you also receive free updates.

Still have spyware and adware on your computer? Get the best program that is guaranteed to remove all spyware and adware no matter what type it is visit http://truemonitors.com/noadware

Microsoft Anti-Piracy Software Sued As Spyware

2006-07-03T20:45:00.000-07:00

Microsoft's WGA has been sued as spyware.

How can anti-piracy software be spyware? In the hyper-technical world of the class action lawsuit, anything is possible.

Brian Johnson of Los Angeles filed suit in Seattle federal court and immediately asked for class-action status. For those not familiar with the legal latin translation of "class-action" status, let me help

Class Action Status: Latin, term used to describe the best method for forcing settlements from huge corporations wherein the settlements are 95% eaten by the lawyers filing the lawsuit.

According to this article:

"Microsoft's actions violated state consumer protection and anti-spyware statues," read the complaint. The papers cite California and Washington state laws that Microsoft has allegedly broken, including ones on the books in both states which define and ban spyware.
WGA, which just moved out of a pilot program in the U.S. and several other countries to take a
permanent role in combating piracy, consists of two tools downloaded to users' machines: one, dubbed Validation, checks for a legitimate copy of Windows XP, while the second, called Notification, displays on-screen warnings until the user ditches the counterfeit copy.

Parents Turning To Spyware

2006-06-18T07:27:00.000-07:00

Parents think they might finally be getting comfortable enough with their computer hacking skills to try spying on their children, or so says this article BostonHerald.com - Local / Regional News: Parents try spyware to eye kids’ Web use

More than one in four parents say the prospect of their children spending too much time online is their main summertime child-care fear, according to a recent survey of 677 working parents by Com-Psych, a Chicago employee-assistance provider.

So an increasing number are investing in a new generation of software that is able to alert them, usually by e-mail and often instantaneously, when their children try to access a Web site that is off limits or type in a forbidden keyword or personal information such as a home address.

Good luck folks, but be careful what you wish for. You may wish you'd never learned what your kids were up to.

As Always: Beware of Free Porn!

2006-05-31T21:10:00.000-07:00

One of the newest spyware threats is a program that lures visitors with promises of free porn. Word to the wise, always beware of free porn.

Once users are trapped by the new program, they are blackmailed into purchasing a program to clean the spyware infection. The new program is called DigiKeyGen, watch for it. The program generates passwords that are supposed to enable users to access porn sites for free. The program also simultaneously and silently installs spyware on the users computer. You guessed it, then comes the offer to clean up the spyware install for a measely 50 bucks.

Read more about the problem here.

Parentlogic in Europe

2006-05-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

There's a new sheriff in town, err, Europe that is. ParetoLogic Set to Conquer Spyware in France, Spain, and the U.K. Through Avanquest - Yahoo! News

Spyware has no respect for the computer users it victimizes nor does it have any regard for geographical borders. While various anti-spyware applications are available in Europe, most anti-spyware programs are cumbersome and slow, hogging system resources and rendering them incompatible with a variety of Internet connectivity options. Answering the challenge, ParetoLogic announced today that its security software solutions will be available in English, French and Spanish languages through Avanquest Software Publishing, a leading global retail and online publisher of bestselling consumer and business software titles.

A little bit overly dramatic "knows no borders"? This is a step away from "global war on terror".

Spy Sweeper Sittin' Pretty In The Face Of Vista Launch

2006-05-20T20:19:00.000-07:00

Check this for a success story in the world of corporate spyware: Anti-Spyware Leader Unfazed by Microsoft - Yahoo! News

Frigtening money figures from the article:

$108 million in venture capital raised by Webroot Software, Inc. last year
20% growth expected this year
IPO instead of buyout because nobody would want to pay $500 million for the company
Webroot employees who think of new ideas that earn patents get bonuses of up to $2,000.00

Will Webroot face the same problems as those who have faded away before it when Microsoft assimilates the technology into the operating system? The industry term for this is "being Netscaped".

Technorati Tags: vista, spy sweeper

Spam Emailer Super-hero Giving Up?

2006-05-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

This post tells about the end of a great idea in the battle against spam and spyware, Blue Security, Inc.

Blue Security was a service that threatened spammers with spam. Members of Blue Security could add their email address to a kind of "do not call list" for emails. If people on the list got spam from spammers, Blue Secuirty would unleash a wave of spam on the spam machines themselves. Kind of a "fight fire with fire" approach.

The only problem, the spammers counterattacked recently and won the battle in somewhat of reincarnation of siege warfare.

Using tens of thousands of hijacked computers, the spammer flooded Blue Security with so much Internet traffic that it blocked legitimate visitors from going to Bluesecurity.com, as well as to other Web sites. The spammer also sent another message: Cease operations or Blue Security customers will soon find themselves targeted with virus-filled attacks.

It sucks, but the battle rages on.

Technorati Tags: blue security, spam

Fake Anti-Spyware? Anything is Possible.

2006-05-16T19:02:00.000-07:00

This report Researchers Warn of Fake Anti-Spyware - Yahoo! News details a new type of cyber-attack called "ransomeware" that is being spread by none other than fake anti-spyware applications.

The attacks work like this:

In these attacks, hackers disguise the malware in programs advertised online as free anti-spyware applications. Once downloaded onto a user's computer, the applications may deliver their own payloads of malicious code or expose affected machines to subsequent attacks.

The idea is a scary one that works because of the proliferation of information about spyware. By instructing and educating people about spyware, the spyware industry has put the fear of God in the average user forcing them to think they need to download anti-spyware applications or their machine might blow up!

Hackers have now come full circle and developed applications that look like spyware killers but actually install the malicious code instead.

Technorati Tags: spyware, ransomeware, rootkits

Not much progress against keyloggers and other spyware

2006-05-15T20:35:00.000-07:00

Check TechWeb | News | Keyloggers, Spyware Continue To Strike Enterprises for info about the continued proliferation of keyloggers.

The article claims 1 in 5 enterprises are infected with keyloggers, the absolute worst type of spyware around.

Keyloggers are spyware programs that record every keystroke made on a computer and send the information quietly to another computer to be read, used and exploited.

Interestingly, the article points out that not much progress is being made against spyware:

Other data gleaned from the survey point to a status quo in spyware and phishing, with numbers virtually identical to last year's poll. Ninety-two percent of the IT people said that their organization had been infected by spyware, compared to 2005's 93 percent; on the phishing front, the numbers (81 percent in 2006, 82 percent in 2005) saying that workers had received a bogus e-mail were just as close.

Conversations With A Botnet

2006-05-15T09:11:00.001-07:00

Check The Greynets Blog: Interview with a Botnet Host for an insane conversation with a botnet.

Don't know what a botnet is? According to Wikipedia,

Botnet is a jargon term for a collection of software robots, or bots, which run autonomously.

But that still doesn't tell you much does it? A botnet is the malicious entity that can drive a denial-of-service (dns) attack or use mail servers and other applications for spam email and click fraud. Botnets are the essence of evil in the spyware world.

Know The Enemy Surveillance Spyware

2006-05-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

Have you ever read best sellers on the cold war and spies? Many of us have grown up on the thrills and chills presented by such novels where spies are watching everything and are in the know of every action or step taken by important people.

The cyber world too has such spies and, among the many kinds is surveillance software. These are designed to surreptitiously monitor a person's activities. It can, not only record keystrokes and log the content of emails but even take screenshots of what is displayed on the monitor.

Surveillance software can be used to monitor a person and steal passwords and other sensitive information like financial transactions and confidential matters pertaining to business deals. Computers are most vulnerable when used online.

Key logger programs include SpectorSoft's Spector Pro and EBlaster, XPCSpy, and Omnisquad's Desktop Surveillance Personal edition. Programs like these abound and they are used to spy on you without your knowledge or consent. In many states an employer or spouse is legally entitled to use these.

In fact, in the US many employers are using surveillance spyware to monitor their employees. Even the government has been using technology to track criminals and to spy into private communications. Surveys indicate that spyware, adware, and other malicious programs are costing victims billions of dollars every year. To fight the menace a coalition "Stop Badware Coalition" of tech companies and consumer groups has formed to stop misdeeds by companies who produce software that spies. Fighting the cause are giants like Google, Lenovo, Sun Microsystems, Berkman Center, Vint Cerf, and Esther Dyson.

Cleverly designed, most anti-spyware programs cannot detect or disable surveillance spyware efficiently. And, spywares are being improved as we speak. You can only attempt to create your own protective fortress by using multiple anti-spyware tools. For example a good workable combination according to PCworld would be Ad-ware, spybot, Pestpatrol, and Spysweeper.

You need to think like a spy to catch the surveillance software. Try and uncover the program and then disable or uninstall it. Many emerge on using specific keystroke sequences like "CTrl-ALT-Shift-S." Very often, the installer or the spyware may have altered the sequence but a bit of doggedness on your part will help you unravel the code. Please do close every application include those running in the systems tray before trying to work the magic.

If you are a bit tech savvy you can discover plenty of useful information on blogs and discussion forums. Sadly, often spyware is password protected and you will not be able to disable the software.

Your safest bet is to avoid downloading software, and use strict log on security offered by operating systems. Always use unusual passwords and make it a point to change them often. You must:

* Use a hardware router. * Set up firewalls both hardware and software. * Use comfortable security settings--never lower than medium. * Never comply to return e-mail receipt requests.

Stay one step ahead and follow the rules of protecting your PC and sanity.

About the Author

Chris Young is a freelance writer for Free Software Downloads , the premier website to find Free Software Downloads including free anti-virus software, free spyware detection software, free toolbars, free chat software and more. He also freelances for Free Online Games site.

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2006-05-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

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