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On the Prevalence and Removal of Spyware?
oo7tushar asks: "There's a lot of spyware out there these days. As a Windows/Linux user I'm concerned about what spyware is installed on my machines and I'm very concerned about this issue when it comes to Windows. A few questions for the masses: What are the most common spying applications that are installed? How do I get rid of them without getting rid of the parent application? Have you encountered spyware on Linux?"
There is a program called AdAware which will automaticly remove spyware from your system. Some programs though, refuse to run if thier spyware is missing. Adware: http://www.winsite.com/bin/Info?5000000038314
Spyware needs to communicate what it is spying. A personal firewall on your machine and some understanding of what your machine should be sending out to others and receiving in can be surprisingly effective in telling you about things happening on your machine. A good one lets you set up default acceptance for your normal stuff and so you see only exceptions.
"Spyware" is too feeble a word for the nastiness these hidden programs get up to. We should start referring to them as "Cancerware". Essentially, they act like cancer, destroying the productivity and aecurity of your machine by infesting it with backdoor software.
And the harsh connotations this name conjures up shall help to remind the layperson of the seriousness of this problem.
"Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
Spyware detection software. www.trapware.com
...just did a story about this. Can't find it online, but it's in libraries now.
_sig_ is away
I think a question this "fucking moron" has asked that is viable is about linux spyware. I have been concerned about this for a while, but there is not any software listed in a simple google search that suggests that they can detect and remove linux spyware. I have also not seen a mention of linux spyware being found anywhere - so you should turn your hostilities to the posters who do nothing but suggest programs for countering windows spyware (geez, how many those posts do we need) and miss the rest of the post.
ymmv
Guys, you just need to follow these seven steps to secure your windoze machine!!!
I'm actually pretty sloppy about privacy. But a lot of spyware -- including Gator's -- hooks into Explorer and other shell programs at a very basic level. Results range from an irritating loss of response to maddening crashes and lockups.
AdAware is quite good. But you also need Ref-Update (to keep your AdAware signature file current) and Ad-Search (to help avoid downloading spyware in the first place). All three available here.
I used this website to kill several SpyWare programs on my Windows machine at work. So far they don't mention any SpyWare software for Linux.
I think that companies like Symantec and McAfee should include these types of programs in their Virus definitions, because after-all, they're a type of Trojan. This is the most logical way to rid the earth of these applications.
At the very least, they should be identified to the user during a virus scan.
Just because the user "agreed" to some insignificant and cryptic blurb in a 14-page EULA, it doesn't mean that this type of software is legitimate. I'd guess that less than 0.1% of users actually READ the EULA anyways. Some of the less legitimate ones don't even have an EULA or "spyware" clause.
MadCow.
I used to have a sig, but I set it free and it never came back.
Get a Mac?
We admit all this to insure disbelief
The reason there isn't spyware for Linux (that I know of) is because no one is being paid to put out software for it (in general). Most of the programs downloadable for Linux are all OpenSource, and not shareware. The corporate mentality of Linux is different, because companies selling Linux products are usually selling to businesses, not individual consumers. Thus, the "hard sell" is needed more often than not, and not some crappy spyware program.
Someone needs to reverse-engineer the protocols used by these programs and start shoving gigabytes of bogus data down their throats.
In short order they'll either cut your IP range off, in which case you've done a fine service for your ISP's fellow customers, or they'll start aggregating clearly bogus data which will decrease its marketability to their clients.
Are they going to take you to court and say "Your honor, we were secretly spying on this person and he's started lying to us about what he was doing online..."?
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
I'm posting as anoncow because I'm about to violate some NDAs, and possibly some draconian IP laws as well.
Linux spyware exists. Some scientific and engineering related software (typically closed source + proprietary) beam back substantial amounts of information. Sometimes they're rather subtle (data in checksum fields and sequence numbers in TCP packets).
Firewalls won't do because the programs will refuse to run if they can't act as spyware. Best methods I know of is to either reverse engineer the executable and bypass the offending subroutines or spoof the server(s) the program is trying to contact. Both of these techniques are highly illegal in many jurisdictions
There is certianlt adware for linux (opera)....
There was an instance of a shopping cart perl script that when first run would send out an e-mail to the script's author. Not a problem, if the documentation clearly stated that this would happen which it did not.
a google search for 'spyware list' turns up some relevent results. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8 &q=spyware+list&btnG=Google+Search
some are better than others. almost all that i have been in contact with are responsive to input as well if you find some new spyware. what i'm not sure about is if there is a master repository that has all spyware on it.
--------- unix, because rebooting is for adding new hardware.