How Many Problems Does Spyware Cause?

Grok Headline matches for How Many Problems Does Spyware Cause?

JAMES DERK: Spyware, Ad-Aware and other
problems

JAMES DERK: Spyware, Ad-Aware and other
problems 02/04/2003 09:52 PM
Ad-Aware.". You can find it on many download sites (go to Google.com and type in "Ad-Aware" or try www.lsfileserv.com). This program ...

Yahoo's Offers New Anti-Spyware Tool...
That Actually Finds Spyware

Yahoo's Offers New Anti-Spyware Tool...
That Actually Finds Spyware 08/05/2004 03:50 AM
It appears that Yahoo heard the backlash loud and clear a few months back when they released an anti-spyware tool that just so happened to skip over adware from Yahoo partners. The latest version, built on PestPatrol's technology will now default to notifying users of both "spyware" and what they consider to be "adware" and then give the user the choice of what to do. I haven't tested the product yet, but it sounds like they're moving in the right direction. It still makes you wonder what they were thinking in offering a purposely crippled offering. People know what spyware is, and telling them that spyware isn't spyware doesn't change how people feel about it. It also doesn't make them look kindly back at the company that provided them with the bogus anti-spyware tool in the first place.

Yahoo's Famed Anti-Spyware App Allows
Spyware From Partners

Yahoo's Famed Anti-Spyware App Allows
Spyware From Partners 06/02/2004 10:10 AM
We didn't write about Yahoo's new "anti-spyware" toolbar that they announced last week, because it seemed to receive plenty of hype, and there were no real reviews of how it worked. There are so many so-called anti-spyware applications out there that don't actually stop spyware and adware for fear of upsetting marketing companies or out of worries that actually stopping spyware may make some applications stop working (upsetting the user), that we figured Yahoo's anti-spyware app (hype and all) probably wouldn't be much to bother with. It certainly looks like that may be the case. eWeek is now reporting that Yahoo tries to dance the careful dance of not upsetting certain companies who threate n to sue people who call their application spyware. Of course, the situation is even more complex because Claria (who you probably know as Gator - despite their attempt to change their name to shake that spyware label) is also a partner of Yahoo. So, it's really not surprising that the default setting for Yahoo's anti-spyware app won't actually remove services like Gator or WhenU. Instead, Yahoo's spyware remover claims these programs are "adware" and will only remove them if you click and extra check box each time you run the program. In other words, once again, you can't trust a provider of anti-spyware software, because they're playing both sides of the fence: partnering with providers on the one hand, and then offering weak removal products on the other. If Yahoo were serious about removing spyware from the computers of users they would refuse to partner with companies that used surreptitious tactics to be installed on computers. Instead, they want to look good to users in the front, while letting in spyware/adware from partners through the backdoor.

Spyware Company Sues Utah Over
Anti-Spyware Law

Spyware Company Sues Utah Over
Anti-Spyware Law 04/13/2004 03:42 PM

AOL Offers Spyware Stopper... Just After
They Started Offering Spyware

AOL Offers Spyware Stopper... Just After
They Started Offering Spyware 04/22/2004 02:36 AM
Just a few weeks after saying that they're going to start bundling spyware/adware with their instant messenger product, AOL announces their latest anti-spyware application. While we've been complaining about anti-spyware from ISPs that just points out the spyware, AOL claims that this version will disable (though not delete) the spyware. I wonder if it will catch the spyware that AOL installs themselves.

The Top Ten Spyware

The Top Ten Spyware 03/22/2005 04:23 PM

According to Webroot Inc. and listed in the Inquirer, here are the top ten spyware and adware threats based on detection as well as potential impact.

1. CoolWebSearch
2. Gator
3. 180 search asst.
4. ISTbar/AUpdate
5. Transponder
6. Internet optimizer
7. BlazeFind
8. Hot as Hell
9. Advance Keylogger
10. TIBS Dialer

Read how each works at the Inquirer Website.

Spyware

Spyware 06/16/2004 11:30 AM
Personal Computer World Jun 16 2004 3:31PM GMT

AAA Spyware C.O.P. v10.0

AAA Spyware C.O.P. v10.0 11/13/2003 12:22 PM
This product will scan your P.C. for spyware and adware, notifying you of the infected files, as well as the spyware or adware name. After registering you may use spyware cop as an adware and spyware remover, deleting the infected files and programs. [Shareware $19.95 990 KB]

See how Spyware has taken over a PC

See how Spyware has taken over a PC 05/28/2004 10:46 AM

Want to see what a little program that is full of spyware can do to your system check out this Windows Task Manager. Makes me say ouch. Oh and guess what program it was, the freeware version of Kazaa [ Dave Winer]

Spyware: Where's the fix?

Spyware: Where's the fix? 04/20/2004 04:52 PM
ZDNet Apr 20 2004 9:47PM GMT

What you should know about spyware

What you should know about spyware 04/26/2004 06:19 AM

Spyware vs. spyware

Spyware vs. spyware 08/30/2004 03:50 PM
Even as many online marketing companies struggle to comply with recent federal legislation governing unsolicited commercial e-mail -- spam to you and me -- new state and federal legislation addresses another online blight: spyware. From California to Washington, D.C., lawmakers are lining up for the chance to smack down this bothersome byproduct of online commerce.

The Problems With PCs

The Problems With PCs 09/23/2004 06:51 AM
ABCNEWS.com Sep 23 2004 11:02AM GMT

IT Problems at the FBI

IT Problems at the FBI 06/17/2005 03:19 PM
CIO Jun 17 2005 12:22AM GMT

We Should All Have Such Problems....

We Should All Have Such Problems.... 07/21/2004 12:38 PM

John Batelle writes....

Ad space is running out (pdf download) on search engines. Damn....

Why do we care? It means the demand has outstripped supply. And that means very good things for high quality community driven web sites. Blogs? Yes.

[Searchblog]

Here here.

Our 1UP.com site has tripled ad revenues - since we turned on the social networking/blogging aspects to it last month. It's an ever increasing body of inventory - in which to run ads in.

.Pro problems

.Pro problems 04/08/2005 10:13 AM

As people have reported widely, there has been a great deal of abuse of .Pro. .Pro was supposed to be a top level domain dedicated to creating a credentialed area for verified professionals and profession related domain names. People have been registering obviously unrelated domains and going as far as selling them on eBay. This clearly violates the spirit of the agreement, but it is still unclear whether anyone is technically violating the agreement. ICANN has been criticized for not policing .PRO especially in light of ICANN approving new sponsored top level domains. As Michael Palage pointed out in his comments during the board meeting, ICANN staff is currently investigating the issues and they will come back with the facts and the board will discuss any appropriate actions.

Comment - TrackBack

Other News: PC Spyware

Other News: PC Spyware 06/29/2004 10:41 AM
Considering all the nasty PC infections in the Windows world, it's a wonder more people don't switch to the Mac.

The Year of Spyware

The Year of Spyware 12/31/2004 04:51 AM
In retrospect, the year 2004 made significant milestones that will forever change the future of internet spyware related issues. Various spyware issues were addressed and a fast growing market evolved around spyware. [PRWEB Dec 31, 2004]

Spyware getting nastier

Spyware getting nastier 05/01/2004 08:54 AM
I had a co-worker ask me this morning how to get rid of some spyware that he caught while surfing...

Spyware Warrior

Spyware Warrior 07/17/2004 05:00 AM
Spyware Warrior
http://netrn.net/spywareblog

A very impressive anti-spyware blog. It includes articles that should be of interest to everyone, software updates and security warrnings, tutorials and info, and a lot of
links. Including links to freeware and commercial spyware killers (mostly freeware), and links to the forums of every major anti-spyware producer (Ad-Aware, Spybot, HiJack This, Javacool Software, etc.), and even has a forum of it's own. However the real reason you'll actually wan't to visit the forum is this page:

http://www .spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

A list of all rogue or suspect sites that make cloned, fake, or actively malicious "anti-spyware". This will be added to Security Resources 2004-05 Internet MiniGuide. This has been added to Internet Hoaxes Subject Tracer Information Blog under the AntiHoax and AntiVirus section.[Net-Gold]

Spyware Sucks!

Spyware Sucks! 04/19/2004 08:25 PM

Toolbar ¬Š Š§‡ˆ ¨§ ¨†§…‡€Œ‡§Œ Spyware
…¨§‡ …Œ€Œ©†

Toolbar ¬Š Š§‡ˆ ¨§ ¨†§…‡€Œ‡§Œ Spyware
…¨§‡ …Œ€Œ©† 05/30/2004 11:36 PM
beta.toolbar.yahoo.com .. toolbar

beta.toolbar.yahoo.com
track this site | 5 links

Spyware: Where's the quick fix?

Spyware: Where's the quick fix? 04/20/2004 07:11 AM
ZDNet Apr 20 2004 11:49AM GMT

The spyware inferno.

The spyware inferno. 08/17/2004 08:40 PM
CNet: The spyware inferno. "For whatever reason, selling software for $30 or less has not worked for new entrants in either retail or Internet channels."

RSS, Spam and Spyware

RSS, Spam and Spyware 06/05/2005 11:08 PM

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm a firm believer in using blogs and RSS for distributed conversation. So, I'd like to start a conversation about the threat that spam and spyware pose to our little syndicated world. I brought this topic up with several companies who were at the Syndicate Conference, and I was disturbed to discover how few of them are even thinking about this pending problem.

Most of them replied, "Spam problem? But there isn't one - if someone's feed contains spam, everyone will just unsubscribe!" Well, yeah - but only if we subscribe to individual feeds, which I believe will take a backseat to aggregated feeds. I'll use my own experience with the NewsG ator acquisition as an example: hundreds of blogs contained news of the acquisition, but I was subscribed to very few of their feeds. Instead, I subscribed to dynamic search feeds - that is, keyword-based feeds powered by RSS search engines - which enabled me to listen in on the conversation. Very powerful indeed - but unfortunately, very spammable.

There are already fake< /a> spam blogs, many of which have RSS feeds. Most of the ones I've seen were created to influence search engine rankings, but it's only a matter of time before they use their feeds for delivering spam (I'll wager that some of them already do). These fake blogs are easy to set up, so as soon as one is taken down, it will re-appear somewhere else (much like their spyware-filled brethren, the warez sites), making it tricky to simply filter them out by their subdomain name. My guess is that the main reason we don't see more RSS spam is simply because spammers are waiting for it to be profitable. Now that conferences such as Syndicate are attended not just by geeks and developers but also by investors, they've got to be thinking that the time is almost here. Create a bunch of fake blogs littered with popular keywords, and let their feeds be picked up by the RSS search engines (to their credit, some of the RSS search engine companies I talked with are already tackling this problem).

Even if I'm way off base about how spam will come to RSS, we all know that spammers will find a way to jump on the RSS bandwagon. Given past history, every new social technology needs to think about spam right from the start, or else risk being crippled by it (side note: many implementations of tagging also strike me as being spammable).

Related to this is the fact that RSS enclosures (a.k.a. "podcasts") must look attractive to spywa re creators. Before I added podcast features to FeedDemon, I took a look at how a few of the existing tools were handling them. To my surprise, security didn't seem to be a big concern - they'd even download EXE enclosures, perhaps assuming that the user's anti-virus software would stop them from being executed if they were malware. Couple automatic enclosure downloading with dynamic search feeds which contain enclosures, and you've got a great spyware delivery system. This is why I made sure that FeedDemon used a safe list for downloading enclosures.

If you make a living from RSS, I hope you'll join in this conversation - either here or in your own blog - and let everyone know whether you're thinking about this problem (or, just let me know I'm full of it if you disagree that it's a threat).

Yahoo! Against Spyware

Yahoo! Against Spyware 05/27/2004 06:26 PM
Search Engine Positioning and Web Marketing weblog,CA-10 hours agoA week after the Google 'good software guidelines' Yahoo! replies with more than words: Their new Yahoo! toolbar which will be launched ...

Yahoo Vs Spyware

Yahoo Vs Spyware 05/27/2004 04:41 PM
Yahoo has launched a beta of their Yahoo Toolbar designed to help combat spyware and browser hijackers. In addition they have added a forum to their site for users to discuss spyware in general. This is one of the first major internet portals to recognize and attempt to combat the epedemic of privacy intrusion and advertising software being installed on users computers.

Which Spyware Remover?

Which Spyware Remover? 09/14/2004 08:27 PM
Ad - http://www.AdwareReport.com Sep 14 2004 10:41PM GMT

The Software Formerly Known As Spyware

The Software Formerly Known As Spyware 12/02/2003 04:14 AM
In October, Gator threatened legal action against a site that dared to call its software spyware. They claim that it's only spyware if it's downloaded without the person knowing about it. Having just spent some of my Thanksgiving vacation removing Gator from my father's computer, I beg to differ. Most people who end up with Gator on their system have no idea how it got there - which appears to fit even Gator's own definition of spyware. Now, despite changin g their name to Claria, it appears that Gator won't be able to shake the critics they threatened to sue. While PC Pitstop agreed to remove pages calling Gator spyware, they' re coming back with a new site that is just as critical of Claria/Gator. Apparently, they've carefully worded the site to abide by the terms of the settlement. They don't call Gator spyware, but give the definition of spyware and then explain how Gator matches that definition. Should be interesting to see how Gator responds. Of course, the angrier they get, the more attention will get drawn to the way they get their application onto computers.

Over 200 bl0gs that contain Spyware!

Over 200 bl0gs that contain Spyware! 04/14/2005 07:38 PM

When will the madness end. Seems cyber criminals are creating legitimate looking weblogs and putting information on them that is designed to draw people in. Then through social engineering are getting people to click on links that have underlying nasty programs.

As always make sure you spyware and virus protection is up to date. Be careful why you are surfing the net folks. [BBC]

Spyware Living Up To Its Name

Spyware Living Up To Its Name 11/19/2003 02:16 PM
When most people talk about "spyware" they're discussing applications that have the ability to "phone home" with additional personal data about who you are and what you're doing. However, it sounds like some people are creating specific spyware designed to do very specific espionage. The article discusses a piece of spyware that appears to have been targeted at a specific company, looking around their network and then shooting corporate documents out, perhaps to use as blackmail later on. It appears some folks are taking "spyware" to the next level.

Me on the radio about spyware

Me on the radio about spyware 05/18/2004 03:04 PM
I did a 4 minute interview this afternoon on WBUR's Here and Now show. The topic was spyware. [SPOILER:] I'm against it....

Is It Possible To Outlaw Spyware?

Is It Possible To Outlaw Spyware? 11/18/2003 01:53 PM
Now that Congress is rushing around trying to outlaw spam, some are wondering if they should turn their attention to the next big annoyance online: spyware. The problem is that it's very very difficult to write a law outlawing spyware that doesn't also outlaw any number of completely legitimate applications. Right now, many spyware products are perfectly "legal", because they hide the details of what they're doing in the very very very fine print within huge, unreadable license agreements that most people agree to without even getting through the first sentence.

The Spyware Revolution

The Spyware Revolution 04/27/2004 10:59 PM

Spyware you do not want to get for
Christmas!

Spyware you do not want to get for
Christmas! 12/22/2004 01:44 AM

As I was installing my Creative Labs PCMCIA sound card, I was shocked to see the amount of "GARBAGE" creative labs tried to install or place in my bookmarks on my PC. Luckily my Spyware program caught all of it and I was able to have it removed before it could become a issue.

Why would Creative do this. The items they were loading wasn't spyware but I sure did not ask for the bookmarks to various sites including AOL to be loaded. They should be ashamed of themselves and offer a apology to all Creative Sound Card owners. That card was not cheap and then they try to load my PC up with advertisments. Well I like the card but they need to be put on the who's naughty list.

Ziff Davis has a great article about some real nasty Spyware that you will want to avoid. Don't forget to included Virus Software, Firewall Software and Spyware Software with all of those PC's your giving or getting for Christmas. [ZDN et]

Spyware Gets Top Billing

Spyware Gets Top Billing 07/03/2004 12:45 AM
Computerworld Jul 3 2004 4:06AM GMT

Spyware in the office

Spyware in the office 04/21/2004 05:06 PM
Spyware can infiltrate offices, where it has the potential to gather confidential information. Kelly Martin, a product manager at Symantec, takes a look at spyware and how to keep it out of your company.

Google spyware

Google spyware 11/10/2003 10:57 PM
I just had an interesting experience, which I'm not 100% thrilled with. Over on IRC, I made a casual reference to a URL. http://www.sidhe.org/backgrounds/gif_for_folks_who_link_unasked.gif specifically. It's a GIF I swap in for the real image when I find folks linking to images in the background collection. (For the record, it's the background image from the nifty.org archive of gay/lesbian/bi fiction (though work-safe) and has the twin advantages of being very light (so it tends to obscure white text) and subtly subversive, while still being tasteful) It's not that I care that people look at the backgrounds, nor that they grab...

Is there Spyware in Trillian 3?

Is there Spyware in Trillian 3? 12/22/2004 01:28 AM
This originally started as a five-minute review of Trillian 3, and ended with something entirely different- forcing me to ask...
Grok Description matches for How Many Problems Does Spyware Cause?
GrokA matches for How Many Problems Does Spyware Cause?

How Many Problems Does Spyware Cause?

The following phrases have been identified by the grok system as matching this entry: what problems spyware cause