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Is Your PC Infected with 'Spyware'? |
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May 09, 2003
Most free file-sharing programs, such as Kazaa, Morpheus, BearShare, and Grokster, contain spyware programs that track users' habits as they swap songs and other digital files.
Does it seem like your computer has a mind of its own?
When you go on the Internet, for instance, does it seem like you're always seeing the same pop-up advertisement for a new car? Or perhaps every time you open up a Web browser, it takes you to a strange site that offers free games or a search engine that you've never heard of?
Chances are you're one of the many millions of Net surfers whose computer has been infected with so-called spyware -- programs that can monitor your online habits, change your computer's settings, and send personal information back to advertisers.
Spyware isn't entirely new. Online advertisers and Web sites have had the means of tracking users' habits since the early days of the Net. But online industry watchers note that the new generation of spyware, sometimes referred to as "adware," is becoming more prevalent among computer users.
Stealthy Software
According to a recent research report from GartnerG2, more than 20 million computer users are infected with spyware, or adware -- programs designed to deliver even more "targeted" pitches to online surfer.
Even more disturbing, say some security experts, is that these monitoring programs are being installed as a hidden part of other pieces of software that surfers find as useful online tools.
Most free file-sharing programs, such as Kazaa , Morpheus, BearShare, and Grokster, contain spyware programs that track users' habits as they swap songs and other digital files. At some less-common Web search sites, users might be offered the chance to install tools -- and their hidden tracking programs -- that supposedly promise better and faster results than well-known search engines.
"The fundamental issue is that people just don't know what's happening when they install these programs," says Tom Powledge, director of product management at Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC) , a software security company in Cupertino, Calif. "The vast majority just don't know what these programs are doing."
Spyware makers, however, claim that they aren't doing anything nefarious but merely offering useful pieces of software. And they claim that so-called end user license agreements, or EULAs -- those long legal statements that precede the installation of any piece of commercial software -- clearly spell out what consumers are getting when they opt to use their software.
But many users hardly read those documents, says Denise Garcia, the GartnerG2 analyst that conducted the adware research last December.
"Oftentimes that user agreement is very obscure and difficult to read," says Garcia. And since fewer than 10 percent of computer users will actually skim through, let alone read, such lengthy discourses, "consumers are pretty unaware of what they are agreeing to," says Garcia.
Virus-Like Growth
Even more disturbing, say some experts, is that spyware makers are beginning to take programming clues from virus writers. Once installed on a computer, some tracking programs become buried among other the code for other programs -- such as a Web browser -- and affect how they function on a user's computer. And perhaps even more nefarious, spyware is becoming harder to detect and remove.
"What we see is that some of the spyware is changing [programming codes] every two weeks," says David Moll, chief executive officer for Webroot, a security software maker in Boulder, Colo. And by morphing their code, Moll says even anti-spyware makers have a tough time trying to keep up.
"We've been researching spyware for almost two years," says Moll. "And the overall population of this stuff is growing at twice the rate of viruses."
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© 2003 ABCNEWS.com i/a/w ScreamingMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.
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