RE: [Marxism] Spyware/adware (FT article)

["Jack Cade" <jack.cade@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This was from the FT. It mentions Ad-aware and Spy Bot search and destroy
plus some others. And they're worried about people playing games and
time-wasting at work. I suppose the difference is that for most people
time-wasting is a choice, ad-hoc activity whereas with capitalism it takes
on an organised basis of which spyware is a recent development.

Jack C.

Paul Taylor: Tools to defeat the menace of spyware
By Paul Taylor 
September 14 2004 

Most people who know me would probably agree that, on the whole, I am a
pretty reasonable person willing to work my way calmly through most of what
life - and technology - throws at me. There are, however, a few exceptions
and one of them is "spyware", which makes me see red.

 
Spyware - software code that installs itself on a PC, often without the
user's permission, and then relays information about the user back to a
third party - is both an annoyance and a security threat. Spyware programs
can manipulate your PC system, for example, by changing a web browser's home
page or paving the way for objectionable "pop-up" adverts. Other, more
sinister spyware can record a user's keystrokes, steal passwords and credit
card numbers, compromise a user's privacy or even make them vulnerable to
identity theft. 

What is more, spyware can be difficult to identify and all but impossible to
remove. Most spyware installs itself on your machine when you open infected
e-mails, click on pop-up adverts or download P2P (peer-to-peer) file-sharing
services such as Kaaza. Sometimes just clicking on an unknown web link is
enough to unwittingly install "drive-by download" spyware. 

According to PestPatrol (www.pestpatrol.com), one of the leading
anti-spyware software developers, which was recently acquired by Computer
Associates, there are more than 21,000 spyware programs in the wild. These
include adware applications, which track web browsing habits and serve up
"relevant" adverts; key loggers, which record keystrokes; and Trojan horses,
through which hackers can access infected PCs. 

So far this year PestPatrol claims to have uncovered more than 5,310 new
spyware pests, compared with 3,728 in 2003. The problem is so widespread
that Webroot Software (www.webroot.com), which sells one of the best
anti-spyware packages, Spy Sweeper 3.2 (costing $30), estimates that nine
out of every 10 PCs connected to the internet are infected with spyware.

Ten days ago, despite being protected by corporate firewalls, an excellent
junk mail filter from Postini (www.postini.com) that traps most of the
100-plus spam messages sent to me every day and antivirus software from
MacAfee, my office PC suddenly slowed to a crawl and started popping up
obnoxious adverts.

My Internet Explorer home page, normally set to Google.com, suddenly
defaulted to a web address I had never seen before and started serving up
yellow pages directories and other search sites. My machine had been invaded
by spyware - and a lot of it.

When I ran Ad-Aware SE Professional, a $40 anti-spyware package from
Lavasoft (www.lavasoft.com), which is one of my favourite anti-spyware
programs, it detected 145 adware cookies, registry settings and bits of
spyware code including CoolWebSearch, one of the most aggressive spyware
applications currently making the rounds. 

Another of my favourites, PepiMK Software's Spybot Search & Destroy -
available for free download at www.safer-networking.org - found some spyware
that Ad-Aware missed but, like Ad-Aware, cannot remove some of the most
tenacious programs.

Like Spybot Search and Destroy, Ad-Aware SE Professional is easy to install
and use, but if you are unlucky enough to end up with CoolWebSearch on your
PC you will need to download a specialist spyware remover called CWShredder
(available at www.spywareinfo.com).

My office machine was also infected by another piece of spyware called VX2
which tracks the websites PC users visit and reports back to the sender's
servers, allowing it to build a user profile and serve pop-up ads.

As Lavasoft notes, some VX2 variants "register" themselves with the PC
operating system in such a way that the program obtains system privileges.
They also prevent the user from viewing this information by removing the
user's rights to do so. Lavasoft's new free add-on VX2 Cleaner detects VX2
and enables users to remove it but I found the add-on did not work at first.
Instead I turned to Webroot Software's Spy Sweeper, which succeeded in
removing the remaining spyware on my machine - including VX2 - first time
round.

There are many other good anti-spyware programs, including new offerings
from MacAfee (www.mcafee.com), one of the leading internet security software
companies. It is worth choosing an anti-spyware package carefully because
some spyware actually masquerades as anti-spyware.

It is also worth running more than one package because, in this emerging
market, different programs have different strengths. Most commercial
packages - but often not the free trials - also enable users to schedule
regular PC scans and download updated spyware definitions. After all, in the
battle against spyware, it is difficult to be too well prepared.



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