Different Types of Spyware

Do you know different types of spyware?

Spyware comes in many shapes and sizes, but there are several categories that the majority of spyware can be placed into:

System Monitors

A system monitor observes the activities you performed on your computer. It captures your bank account information, usernames, passwords, and credit card numbers and then sends it to other websites. Naturally, this is done without your knowledge.

System monitors can infect your system through bogus emails or instant messaging viruses. Once infected, the hacker has access to do whatever he wants while in control of your system.

Trojans

Trojan Horses come in through e-mail attachments or free software packages. Once loaded onto your computer, the spyware starts doing its damage.

These types of software are usually in popular, free downloads. They also usually contain at least one Stalking Horse (defined later) and software for ad-serving networks. Sometimes the company asks you if you want to install these stalking horses or ad-serving programs, but usually they are hidden in the fine print of the license agreement and you agree without even knowing it. You have to agree to everything in that agreement because, in some situations, if you choose not to install the spyware you will not be able to use the main program. Examples of programs that are Trojan Horses are KaZaa, Grokster, and Morpheus.

Cookies

You might hear some people argue that cookies are not spyware at all because most of them have a legitimate purpose – to help the owners of web sites save your personal settings and customizations so that when you return to the site it will be tailored to your tastes and interests. However, I delete cookies all the time and I’ve never had trouble when I go back to my favorite sites.

Cookies are also used by advertisers to track sales and clicks to better understand how best to spend their marketing budget.

For example, if you are reading a news story about your favorite football team, on that page you might see an advertisement or a text link directing you to a site where you can get a jersey of your favorite team. Well, your team just won an important game, so naturally you want one now! And it’s a good price! So you click on this link and make the purchase.

The advertiser then knows that the site you came from is a good place to spend money advertising. If the link is ignored, they will not continue to advertise on that site. Without cookies, companies would be blindly throwing money at advertising opportunities without any way of knowing if it is effective.

Adware

Adware programs are free to use but they have advertisements built into the software. When you run the program, it pulls down advertisements from the Internet and displays them somewhere in the software.

Double Click, Value Click, Gain, and Radiate are among networks that use this method.

Backdoor Santas

These programs can have valid uses, but they also collect information about how you use your computer, such as the sites you visit and the type of your hardware and transmit it back to their servers. They generally do not work with adware networks. Comet Cursor, Alexa, and Hotbar are examples of Backdoor Santas.

Stalking Horses

Stalking Horses let adware networks send ads to your computer. They are generally bundled into a program, offered as an addition they make you think you need in the installation of the main software.

Browser Hijackers

Browser Hijackers change your homepage and, no matter how many times you change it back to what you want, they change it back. It’s not just your homepage they take over. When you do a search in Google, hijackers will send your request to another search engine. Your computer has been hijacked.

Why do they do this? Money. They send you to a site where they may gain a commission for the user going there or to increase traffic, thereby generating higher ad revenue.

Dialers

Dialers make their money by connecting your computer through your phone line to other computers, which are usually porn sites. Since these numbers are pay per call, you get charged for the time. It’s generally quite a shock when you receive your phone bill.

Commercial Spyware

Spyware also includes commercial tools like keyloggers and network management tools, which are used in large corporations to keep an eye on employees. Sometimes this software is misused, such as when hackers steal someone’s password to obtain access to the computer system.

Keyloggers

A Keylogger is a program that records all your keystrokes, then hidden in the machine for later retrieval, or shipped right away to the attacker. From these keystrokes, the bad guys will try to find passwords or other information that could be used in an attack. For example, a key logger can reveal the contents of e-mail you’ve written. Keylog programs are commonly included in Trojans.

Phishing

Phishing is when an email is sent to you that claims to be a real business when in fact it is trying to scam you into giving out your private information to be used for identity theft.

Usually the email says that the reader must visit a web site to update or verify personal information, like credit card numbers, passwords, social security numbers, etc. Unfortunately, the web site is fraud, and only wants to steal your identity and information.

Two of the most recent, well-known phishing scams were the emails from a bank, like Sun Trust or Chase. Many people thought the bank was really sending them an email and fell for this scam – sending personal information like bank accounts, password and social security numbers to the bad guys. Another famous phishing scam were emails purportedly from eBay claiming that the user’s account was about to be suspended unless he clicked on the link and updated the credit card information.

It’s easy to make a site look like it’s the real thing, and many people thought they were really being contacted by eBay and were connecting to eBay’s real site to update information.