White Papers for Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Spyware: An Increasing Threat

CDW

A 2005 IDC survey listed spyware as the second-greatest threat to a company’s network security. (The year before, it had ranked as number three.) The research group estimates that 67 percent of all computers are afflicted with some form of spyware. For the past two years, security experts have warned that spyware is becoming more insidious. Spyware’s annoying pop-up windows and browser hijackings are being replaced by more sinister and covert programs.

Recent headlines indicate that spyware developers have shifted their focus away from pay-per-click advertising to far more lucrative identity theft schemes. Sophisticated tools like keystroke loggers can be used to record every account number and password a user enters, in turn, to send the information back to the spyware perpetrator. URL monitors and Trojan horses are also being deployed through spyware, and experts are predicting an increase in the use of spyware to take control of PCs and enlist them in giant botnets.

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