Monday, August 24, 2009

Beware Of Spyware Threats ? The Top Ten

By Susan Reynolds

No net-savvy user can underestimate the danger posed by Spyware. These malicious programs cause losses worth millions of dollars to corporates and individuals alike and huge amounts of money are spent in fighting these fast breeding threats. Spyware programs can lurk in your data, stealing crucial information like credit card numbers and personal browsing history. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. So here's a list of the most dangerous spyware doing the rounds, brought to you through FaceTime Security Labs.

Gator, one of the earliest spywares, memorizes the password of a site so that it can be popped up for gaining entry the next time you visit that website. Irritating popups keep opening up when you try to access your site due to Gator's activity. The creator of this program, Claria, has attempted to smoothen out this retrieval software, but the popup nuisance persists.

CoolWebSearch is second on the list and it has earned the reputation of being the most irksome program that has many variants. It directs the user to CoolWebSearch.com or Datanotary.com by manipulating the browser. It?s extremely tricky to uninstall and users must never try it manually.

180SearchAssistant is another one of those pranksters that is bent on offering you pop ups of sites resembling your search keyword. Emoticons and wallpaper come as addition gift wraps along with this software. Newer version, however, offer some respite with their add/remove program and uninstall features.

Huntbar can be as frustrating as they get. Huntbar has a modus operandi by which it creates its own toolbar on the internet explorer. Using any other search engine proves futile too as it will keep directing the user to its own page. Furthermore, it ends up changing the home page as well as the search engine setting, which leads the users to their server every time they use the search engine. And to add insult to injury, it drains the memory by 15%.

Cydoor is the next in line among its illustrious brothers and sisters. The main source of this program is the peer to peer (P2P) software. Much like the others mentioned above, it frustrates the users no end by incessant advertisement pop ups and also tracks the browser history.

ISTbar latches on to your data through ActiveX and javascript installations. It transmits your personal browsing history to sites like my-internet.info and Blazefind.com, thus compromising your computer security.

Various features of WhenU-DesktopBar includes ad pop ups, tracking of browsing history and an ability to run codes from a far off server using only update settings. Searches may end up in special offers and coupons being flashed on the monitor.

New.net masquerades as a seller of non-standard top domain names which can cause a lot of grief. This program should be promptly cleaned out from your system.

IEplugin uses the same tactics as Huntbar in that it sets up its own toolbar on your browser. It monitors all your activity on the Net and uses that information maliciously.

BargainBuddy was once an infamous and ubiquitous program. Distributed by BullzEye Network, it would set up browser Helper Object to keep an eye on the system. It would study the keywords being used and would send advertisement your way based on that.

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