Defending The Net

Am I Safe From Spyware

What's the difference between Spyware, Ad-ware, Cookies?

What do Cookies actually do for you? Are they safe? What is the difference between Ad-ware and Spyware? The original intent of cookies was to make your life easier. Sites that you visited before or frequently visited would store certain information about who you are; full name, phone number... so when you returned to the site you would not have type this information again. This in itself may actually be helpful to you. That is, if it is secure, and not performing some other task. Like many things created to make your life easier and with good intention, others will see it as an opportunity to exploit you. Ad-ware may be bad enough, collecting information about what sites you visit, sending this information (or selling it) to other people. But what if it's worse than that! How about visiting a website, unknowingly downloading a piece of software that;

Captures everything you type

Looks for passwords, financial information, or your social security number on your computer

Installs software that looks for a phone line and modem, calls a 900 # overseas, and results in a $5,000 phone bill at the end of the month

Spyware / Adware / Cookies?

Spy-ware, Ad-ware and Cookies - The Internet, or the World Wide Web, is an ever changing place.  It's almost like a living thing as it continues to grow and evolve and its potential is nearly limitless.

During the early days when web sites were being developed people found it sometimes difficult typing in the same information over and over again just to get into a site they visited on a regular basis.  So, to make your life a little easier, items like cookies where invented.  Storing a cookie on your computer would allow the site that you regularly visited to recognize you as a return visitor. In some cases automatically filing in certain information on their login forms,  determine what part of the country (or world) you are located in, and other basic information.  As is the case with most things made to make your life easier there are those who will take it to the next level!

Is Adware Helpful, a Pest, or Dangerous?

For the longest time people just dealt with the fact that when they visited sites on the Internet they would have to bare with POP-UP's and other annoying pests.  This may have started out as just a an annoyance or pest but the developers of these programs quickly realized they could do so much more.  Instead of just popping up or displaying advertisements on your screen, they started infecting your computer with programs that can;

• Track which websites you visit;
• How often you visit certain sites;
• Tailor online advertisements to target you;
• Pop-Up advertisements on your screen even when not using a browser;

and do all these things without your consent. This can dramatically affect your computers performance.  Taking up precious computer resources and Internet bandwidth (access).

Spyware - Back-Doors - Key-loggers

It can be very difficult to differentiate between what is "ad-ware" and "spy-ware".  It's a bit of a grey area that becomes worse everyday.  From a basic point of view, ad-ware is tracking your visits and actions in an effort to market to you in a more targeted fashion, spy-ware takes it to the next level.  Some of the things you can expect from spy-ware are;

• Gather and report information about you and your computer;
• Can closely resemble a computer Virus and perform similar malicious tasks;
• Can become active immediately and when you restart your computer;
• Certain types may actually be able to log what you type on your computer;
• Search for, locate, and transmits personal information such as user-id's and passwords or worse;
• Can be installed by what seems to be legitimate software packages;

and again, install itself and perform its tasks all without your consent.

A couple of things to do in order to reduce your risk of infection by these potentially dangerous programs are;

• Install, configure (properly), and continuously run anti (ad-ware and spy-ware) software;
• Keep your anti ad-ware & spy-ware programs up-to-date;
• Run these programs as frequently as possible (or at least after active Internet browsing);
• Do not download browser tool bars as many of these contain ad-ware and / or spy-ware;
• Be very selective about what you download from the internet;
• Never use file-sharing programs like KazaA, EDonkey, or Bearshare just to name a few
• If possible, when installing software choose a "custom" install (Many software packages include direct marketing programs in their installation packages);
• Never, ever rely solely on your Anti-Virus software to protect you from these programs as many do not catch them;

So, not only can these programs put you are risk, they can significantly affect your computers performance.  Be very cautious when exploring the Internet and installing applications in general. 

When Things Get Worse!

Some of these malicious programs are more dangerous than others.  A program that constantly annoys you by popping up advertisements whether you browsing the web or not is bad enough.  But there are other things you need to be concerned about;

• ad-ware / spy-ware that targets children leading them to sites on the Internet that no child should ever see!;
• Installation of Auto-dialers that can rack up thousands of dollars($$$) in phone bills (You can read a real life story about this when our Stories and Nightmares section is finished development!);
• Browser Hijacks - You think your at your Banks Internet Site, paying bills, and in reality you are at a duplicate site giving someone your financial information, social security number, and the keys to identity theft!;

The list goes on............................