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?"

Comments

A psychological consideration

[ringbarer]

"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.

Re:Watching for Spyware

[tuanjim_2001]

I was specifically speaking about if the maching in question with the spyware is a *inx, or *BSD machine, for the reference to ipchains, etc. But you have an excellent point. Sending spyware data out over https/443 would be the way to go. Thinking about it even further they could use any high numbered port that isn't reserved, or if this is a windows world grab a low numbered port on boot, and send data over this encrypted and the server that the spys are listening on decrypt there. This would be an waste of CPU cycles but if you are writing sypware you really don't care about who's cycles you are wasting, as long as they aren't yours.