by Perry McCarney

Created on: October 11, 2008   Last Updated: December 31, 2009

The Internet has progressed from its infancy as an educational and entertainment tool into a major means of commercial enterprise. As the Internet has commercialized, the predominant form of malicious software (malware) has changed from the intentionally destructive computer virus to the far more insidious spyware. When I cleansed the PC of the teenage son of a friend of mine, that had been operating on the Internet for three weeks with negligible security, it had six viruses, three trojans and several hundred spyware programs on it.

Spyware can be best grouped into two types, just like cancers: the relatively benign and the decidedly malignant. Without protection, they are inevitable for any user of the Internet.

The bulk of spyware falls into the benign category, tracking cookies being the most significant of these. Many, if not most, commercial endeavors now operating on the Internet, whether large or small, decades old or started yesterday, attempt to install cookies on your computer when you first connect to their website. The purpose of this is to set up defaults that make using their website easier for their customers. Computer operating systems have administrative settings that will block cookies from being installed, but it is normal for their default settings to allow cookies rather than block them.

The companies that install tracking cookies on your computer claim that this also is to improve your use of their website. Tracking cookies record the websites you visit and most only report back when you revisit the website that installed them. The concept is that this enables the website to tailor itself to the preferences indicated by the websites you visit. Apparently the concept of privacy passes right over the heads of those deciding the business ethics of these companies.

By blocking all cookies through your operating system, you will block tracking cookies. But standard cookies do indeed enhance and ease your use of their originating website, so you may not desire to use this option.

The nasty of nasties, that piece of spyware that might "kill" you, or certainly your finances, is called a "keylogger." These are waiting to hide themselves away on your computer, mostly on disreputable websites, but the smarter hacker/fraudster sets them up on more innocent websites as well. Even if the company hosting that website have security applications and/or staff quick off the mark to remove it, getting just one victim is easily worth the minimal effort required of the hacker.

The purpose of a keylogger is to record (log) your usernames or access codes and the passwords associated them, by noting the keys pressed. This log file is then dispatched into the Internet, back to the hacker so (s)he can clear out your bank accounts and max out your credit.

Anti-spyware software is even more of a necessity for the computer user these days than anti-virus software. Whether you use a security suite or individual applications, it is best to have more than one. At least one should provide realtime monitoring as well as the provision for scans. Scans should give you the option to isolate or permanently delete what they find, as well as grading their threat level. A needed feature is protection for the vital areas of your computer's software, requiring your authorization for them to be modified.

A firewall is also essential. It needs to be "two-way", able to block outbound as well as inbound. Set up correctly, this will stop a keylogger from being able to report back, even if it has managed to sneak on and record your details.

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