The State Of Grayware On the PC

Checkers and Pogo writes "Grayware inhabits a murky area between pure malware and useful apps, and it's a growing problem. 38.1% of all malicious PC software falls into the grayware category, and so-called 'grayware 2.0' is targeting social-networking sites. Ars Technica's Jeremy Reimer notes, 'The "threat" of rogue applications like SuperWall wasn't immediately obvious: they seemed more like annoyances than real security risks. But as users entered more and more personal information into their Facebook accounts, it became clear that the possibilities for abuse were rampant. For example, because Facebook allows users to "tag" photos with the names of friends, it is possible for third-party apps to distribute photos that a user might only want to be seen by their inner circle of friends.'"

Comments

There is no Dana, only Zuul.

[snarfies]

The article defines this "greyware" "vectors of attack." PROTIP: If the software has any sort of vector to launch any sort of attack on any machine, it is malware, pure and simple. Calling it "greyware" is a whitewash of some dark stuff.

5 pages

[esocid]

Ok, /.ers don't RTFA anyway but I'll sum up the 5 pages. History of malware...gator....trojans et al....there will always be malware that avoids detection...in the future mobile devices are going to be targeted more than they are now. Constantly updating browsers are good...yadda yadda...don't be stupid and be skeptical.
Tada!

MOD PARENT UP

[dreamchaser]

Even coining the term 'greyware' is just a form of social engineering. "Oh it can't be THAT bad. I mean, it's grey, not black."

Malware is malware. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call it a duck. There is no such thing as 'greyware'.

What were they thinking?

[dangitman]

For example, because Facebook allows users to "tag" photos with the names of friends, it is possible for third-party apps to distribute photos that a user might only want to be seen by their inner circle of friends.'"

Yeah, malware is bad, but if somebody thinks those photos are going stay "within their core circle of friends" when they post them on Facebook, they need their head checked. You know, people in your "circle of friends" have other friends too, that are in other circles of friends. They will surely get passed between the two groups. Even if that doesn't happen, somebody in your "circle" will have an insecure computer.

The bottom line is that if you think you can keep your photos private when posting them online, you are deluding yourself. An idea might be to not take them in the first place if you don't want them seen by others.