spyware

According to reports, the National Security Agency (NSA) has been busted once again for illegal surveillance. Worse yet, it seems the NSA has moved beyond wiretapping land lines to the wireless phone industry, too. (Source: nytimes ) Legal experts ... suggest that collaboration between the wireless phone industry and the NSA runs far deeper than originally thought. There are over 3,000 wireless companies operating in the U.S.; furthermore, the majority of industry-aided snooping is quietly handled by companies that most consumers have never heard of. (Source: cnet.com ) Major Networks Sold Data ... (view more)

Cybercriminals are continuing to target major news stories and global events such as the recent release of Windows 7 release candidate (RC) and results of the FIFA World Cup. It has been reported that thousands of Windows 7 builds downloaded on ... Torrent and P2P sharing sites contain a malicious Trojan designed to target personal information and has the potential to cause system failure and identity theft. Phishing attacks have targeted the 2010 FIFA World Cup Tournament and evidence suggests that the attacks will continue to escalate, as demonstrated during the previous FIFA World Cup which ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Mule63' writes: " Dear Dennis, I would like to know how to get rid of Tracking Cookies. They seem to be using my email to send inappropriate messages to people and my Internet Service Provider (ISP) has threatened to cut my ... Internet service. Could this cause the computer to go slower? Thank you for any information you can give me. " My response: The short and sweet answer is that tracking cookies probably aren't the issue here. The more likely answer is that your computer is infected with Spyware, is part of a botnet, and is being used to proliferate spam. Allow me to ... (view more)

If you're lucky, spyware will slow down your computer and make your daily use a frustrating experience. That is *NOT* a typo. If you are lucky, that's what will happen ... but if you are unlucky, spyware will leave your computer as good as useless, ... steal your personal data, banking information, credit card numbers, and passwords -- and make your life a living hell. What is the Difference between Spyware, Malware, and a Virus? There are distinct classifications for rogue software: all of which cause harm to your PC in some way or another. The terms spyware and malware generally refer to ... (view more)

We hear a lot about Internet threats as they develop, but how are these scares addressed by the government? According to one survey, the potential for disaster has convinced about 65% of the country's government-employed IT managers to spend more ... time on security than they did in 2006. The recent survey was conducted by Cisco Systems, no slouch in the security sphere. The security firm found that spyware and bots remain the top concern of most answering the survey, with security breaches and poor training finishing second and third. Part of the reason for spyware's infamous rise has something ... (view more)

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Independent security tests performed by CRN.com suggests that Windows Vista is only marginally more secure than Windows XP. CRN spent a week testing both operating systems against various Trojans, viruses and various exploits. The tests were ... performed with Windows Vista Business on an HP Compaq 6515b notebook with Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and an HP Compaq nc6400 with Windows XP with Internet Explorer 6 (IE6), both using the default security features and settings. Finjan's RUSafe sniffer tool (a security tool that sniffs live traffic and generates logs that can be analyzed to help protect you ... (view more)

Think those goons infecting your computer with spyware are mischievous? How about a company that persuades users that they have an infected computer, and then sells them a $49.95 program to clean the "infection" that never existed in the first ... place? Doesn't sound so bad, unless you're considering the case of Secure Computer, which recently settled a lawsuit against it alleging that the company falsely informed people of possessing spyware. The original suit was filed in January, and cited the New York state-based Secure Computer as violators of the 2005 federal Computer Spyware Act. Those in ... (view more)

One of the things I dislike about Windows is the need for software utilities to take care of system settings and conditions. Battling such things as Spyware, viruses, registry hacks, and other things that directly impact the usage of our systems ... just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I've been involved with Information Technology for over 37 years on any number of systems, both large and small, and needing something to 'stick a thumb in the dike' seems wasteful of my time when there are other things I want and need to do. Don't get me wrong: some of the utilities have become highly respected ... (view more)

One of the ways that the spyware and Trojan makers get spyware on your computer is to trick you into installing it. Just recently, I was deleting some spam on a forum I administer, I came across something that caught my eye. I was offered a video to ... watch, but I was told I had to install something to see it. I then decided to get my test computer ready, and installed the codec that I was told that I needed. Subsequently, the installed file brought spyware onto my computer. Shortly after that, I began to get pop up ads. One of those pop ups had a new program that I had not heard of before, ... (view more)