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subject: hey Boss, Is A Keylogger, Spyware? [print this page]

A close friend of mine walked into his minority SMB office,

cup of coffee in hand and was blown away by this question

no owner wants to hear coming from his sales manager -

'Hey boss, is a keylogger, spyware? Of course the cup of

coffee hit the floor as my friends blood pressure hit the

roof. Like most SMBs or solo entrepreneurs they have no IT

guy, so he/she wasn't there to get fired on the spot. No, I

got the brunt of the frustration - being his IT guy on the

side and now we get to the global definition of spyware.

Spyware loosely defined is unwanted, obstrusive (read system

intensive - memory hogging) and always potentially

dangerous software unintentionally installed on a pc. Most

anti-spyware software makers lump adware (that stuff which

gets installed because it's free or cheap), BHOs (browser

helper objects - stuff that suddenly appears on your

browser), distributed attack tools, keystroke loggers, PCP

software, tracking cookies, and unauthorized remote admin

tools in the same global spyware box.

That list should scare even a pro at surfing on the

Internet, but some of us have to be online 365/24/7. This

is the audience that should be paying attention, everyone

else don't stop reading.

Still reading? Good, because spyware is getting worse -

those insanely smart people who keep finding ways to hack

intoyour company's operating system are getting beter at

what they do...

The list I just gave you earlier is getting longer and

longer and longer. As the spyware fighters get better, the

hackers try harder and harder. Making new software to

attack different parts of any system made on earth. Just

when we thought that XP was locked down, they restarted

their attack on Win2k. And they haven't exactly given up on

the other versions of Windows that older computers are

using still today. Now no computer is safe any more as

people got lulled into thinking that older computers were

forgotten.

Quick fix for 'some' spyware problems - stop everyone using

a computer from installing anything not approved by IT guys

that know about the ever growing list of spyware. Remove

all admin rights to install software today, some of these

programs can even get the installer to load their spyware

and then open up holes in your firewall or otherwise disable

the protection setup on your computers. Stop others from

installing bogus software today and you will thank yourself

tommorow.

If you can't do that without your employees spiking your

coffee with diet sugar until you 'fix' their computer back,

then the only other option is anti-spyware software.

Minority SMBs and entrepreneurs that don't have an IT

department or somebody's son/ daughter is your IT

department then they will have some form of anti-spyware to

keep computers free of spyware and running at the

speed/reliability it was intended. Spyware can eventually

or sometimes immediately bring any computer to the point

where you cannot even logon to your account or computer.

Your web browser will look like a neon sign for toolbars

and other 'browser helpers' that only help to send hackers

info you don't want them to have in the first place.

As spyware gets more deadly and sophisticated it soon will

begin to infect other programs used in your OS and bloat

your registry to the point of freezing the screens of XP.

Your anti-spyware options are far too numerous to list here

and we should stick to the ones where it is run and

monitored by one person and that person alone. It prevents

anyone from uninstalling the anti-spyware accidently or

disabling the software on purpose. I have known friends

complain that their software keeps notifying them when it

eliminates spyware and malware (close cousins), so they

disabled it. Not an especially good idea these days.

Reporting and alerts are a must, that way you can pinpoint

the culprits and then have a talk with Bill about the

reason his computer is always so slow - the spyware he keeps

downloading. Alerts are critical so that if someone else

uses Bill's computer and loads spyware/malware, you find out

immediately.

Scheduling and real-time scanning are the leather

seats/steering wheel on this piece of software, to prevent

new infestations from re-clogging your computer network

again and again. Anti-spyware that is bundled or integrated

will be the favored choice for an entrepreneur or SMB, you

won't have several licenses to deal with and the software

will update the whole rather than parts. The way spyware/

malware is gaining in strength an updated

anti-virus/anti-spyware/anti-spam module is better than

wondering whether each piece is updated.

Spyware is not something that can be ignored, as it becomes

more sophisticated and dangerous it may cost your business

more than it can afford.

by: shakeeb

welcome to loan (http://www.yloan.com/)