malware.ppt

* Dozens of Pop-up Ads Cover a Desktop. * Web Activity Monitor Spyware behavior, such as reporting on websites the user visits, frequently accompany the displaying of advertisements. Monitoring web activity aims at building up a marketing profile on users in order to sell targeted advertisement impressions. * Other Victims of Spyware The prevalence of spyware has cast suspicion upon other programs that track Web browsing, even for statistical or research purposes. Some observers describe the Alexa Toolbar, an Internet Explorer plug-in published by A, as spyware (and some anti-spyware programs report it as such) although many users choose to install it. * Identity Theft and Fraud Some spyware is closely associated with identity theft. Spyware may transmit the following information to attackers: chat sessions, user names, passwords, bank information, etc. Spyware has principally become associated with identity theft in that keyloggers are routinely packaged with spyware. John Bambenek, who researches information security, estimates that identity thieves have stolen over $24 billion US dollars of account information in the United States alone * Routes of Infection * Routes of Infection Spyware does not directly spread in the manner of a computer virus or worm: generally, an infected system does not attempt to transmit the infection to other computers. Instead, spyware gets on a system through deception of the user or through exploitation of software vulnerabilities. * Masquerade One way of distributing spyware involves tricking users by manipulating security features designed to prevent unwanted installations. * Masquerade - Example The Internet Explorer Web browser, by design, prevents websites from initiating an unwanted download. Instead, a user action (such as clicking on a link) must normally trigger a download. However, links can prove deceptive: For instance, A pop-up ad may appear like a standard Windows dialog box.