Spyware Prevention

Your web browsing and online buying habits are private... right?

by Andrew Jensen

Here's a real surprise for you: the internet is an ever-changing thing.

Think about how many web-based businesses have come and gone in recent years. Even companies with real staying power, like EBay & Amazon, have changed their looks— and often their owners.

The less-than-legitimate businesses have changed right along with them, and for that reason it's important for anyone who uses the web with any regularity to stay up on at least the most current batch of e-threats.

In the good old days of two or three years ago, a good firewall and updated virus protection was enough to keep most of us safe online. The web, in its unbridled free-for-all marketing, has recently spawned a vicious new breed of entrepreneur who operates in the legally-gray area of "spyware." They exploit cutting-edge technology, shielded by a not-very-tech-savvy-legislature— lawmakers who are still too busy debating the P2P file-sharing thing— to invent software that makes popup windows look like kid stuff. Geographical location (usually a country that doesn't observe NATO copyright laws) helps them even more, where the arm of the law would have to be very long indeed to collar them. They might even share an apartment with a spammer.

Spyware's thinking, in a nutshell, is thusly:

1. There's gold in them thar hills!
Consumer info is the currency of the new internet, and spyware captures lots and lots of it.

2. What we're doing may be illegal (but it isn't yet and there's no law on the books to cover what we do )

3. By the time the law catches on to us, we'll be living the good life in... (insert tropical location here).
Or, we'll just change our product. Done. Want to see us change it again?

Spyware developers use technology that moves faster than the speed of a judge's gavel. That means that web information mining isn't going away any time soon, especially because there's such a ready market for the information they gather.

So, what can spyware do to your computer?
Sadly, that list gets longer every day; here are just a few:

1. Hijack your browser's homepage (this is very common and very annoying)
2. Track your internet usage habits; which sites you visit, how long you spend there... and how much you spend there.
3. Install programs on your computer that compile and send detailed tracking information to a 3rd party, without your knowledge
4. Install features and plug-ins to your browser, again without your knowledge, that take up space and slow your computer down

Tracking Cookies
Here's one cookie that will leave a bad taste in your mouth.

The "cookie" is a very common but poorly-understood thing. In the simplest terms, a cookie is a small text file that is stored on your computer by a web site, which becomes something of an electronic fingerprint so the web site can recognize you if you come back to visit in the future. The web site can use the cookie for a number of things, some of which are beneficial to you. For example, a cookie enables us to remember your news and entertainment preferences when you visit Discover NEO. It also allows your computer to be recognized automatically whenever you visit web sites which require passwords, like your bank or credit card company. After all, who really wants to constantly type in passwords, zip codes and 16-digit account numbers? When used intelligently, cookies can be great time savers.

But then, leave it to some people to take a good thing and ruin it. Some web sites take the tracking ability of cookies too far, exploiting your privacy and aggressively mining information about your internet usage. A web site using such a cookie usually starts its own log file on your browsing habits, then updates their file on every return visit. Often their agenda is to first locate your e-mail address, then track your browsing habits through your browser's history log, and finally sell this list of "hot leads" to spammers.

Just like their namesake, web cookies have a shelf life; an expiration date after which they are deleted. The trouble is that the life of the cookie is up to the site administrator who created it, and naturally the renegade cookies last forever. This creates an ever-expanding cookie file, making the web trackers even more efficient.

The Tracking Cookie Solution

As a matter of general maintenance, it's a good idea to use a post-surfing clean-up program to rid your system of unwanted cookies. The following are available as either freeware or for a fee:

Webroot.com's $30 (shareware) Window Washer 3.5

Advercast's $40 SurfSecret Deluxe 3.5

The Limit Software's (trialware) Cookie Crusher

Parasites
Better Known as My Comet "Curser."

OK, now that we've got your cookies back in the jar, let's look at one very big way spyware gets into your computer: parasites. If you've ever installed a program on your computer, then you've no doubt seen a lengthy legal document to which you're required to click "I Agree." These legal documents are long and boring enough to put even the lawyers who wrote them to sleep.

Spyware creators are counting on this fact, and slide in a few disclaimers here and there about third-party software that will be installed along with the software you actually want. Legal mumbo-jumbo isn't anything new; after all, lawyers have known this forever: nobody will probably read it, and even if they do they won't understand it. The bottom line is that after you agree to the document, it's open season to install whatever else they want you to have.

When confronted, spyware creators usually just shrug their innocent shoulders, bat their eyes and say "What? The users agreed that they wanted the tracking software; you can't blame us!"

The free version of the file-sharing application "Kazaa" is a prime example; it installs tracking software like Gator or Ezula, and most users of these programs are unaware that their actions are being carefully tracked, recorded and logged. Since the installation agreement states that such software will be installed, this whole process is perfectly legal.

Shady? Perhaps. But at least now you know the score, and you can do something about it.

For a piece of software that's so easy to install, some of these can be pretty hard to shake. In some cases, the original "good" software you installed in the first place will cease to work properly after the parasite is gone. Before we go any further, let's clarify:

If this happens, you have 3 basic options:
A. Find a "clean" copy of the software
B. Learn to live without the software
C. Learn to live with the parasite.

The Worst-Case Scenario

Once Gator is installed on your computer, the software overlays regular web banner ads with its own banner ads, custom-tailored to your interests (thanks to Gator's log of your web usage habits). This log is gathered and periodically sent to a central log site.

Ezula uses a different tactic, presenting its own text links along with legitimate page content.

For an example of how far some spyware will go, there have been instances where "dialer" programs have downloaded themselves onto unfortunate e-mail recipients' computers. Once inside, they changed the modem properties to use a special -900 number to place overseas calls. When the phone bill arrived, surprised victims found that they'd been charged hundreds of dollars— racked up while they thought they were offline.

The Parasiteware Exorcists

The following programs are well-documented spyware killers. However, you may want to play it safe and install at least two of them; spyware has a way of slipping by one program, but a second generally catches it.

Spybot Search & Destroy

Lavasoft AdAware

Webroot's Spy Sweeper

Visit Scumware.com for an online spyware scan.

The Homepage Hijack (and drive-by installations)
Do you want to set Spray-on Instant Weight Loss.com as your homepage? Didn't think so.

One extremely annoying trick making its rounds is to "hijack" the homepage of site visitors, changing the home site on your browser so next time you sit down to check out sports scores or the news, you're confronted with some other page instead. Rogue web sites install scripts that can do this and more to your computer without your ever knowing.

The drive-by installation surreptitiously downloads and installs an application to your computer. Also, several applications will try to install themselves under the pretense of some kind of service, like "My Comet Cursor."

Stopping the Hijackers

First, let's fix your homepage (this works for Internet Explorer):

1. Open your browser.

2. On the top bar, select the "Tools" menu.

3. Select "Internet Options," which will open a menu screen.

4. The top category on the menu screen is "Home Page." Set the home page to http://www.discoverneo.com or the homepage of your choice

5. Click OK to close the window

6. Close your browser

7. Restart your browser again, and you'll see that your site of choice is once again your homepage.

Checking your security settings

Preventing so-called "drive by installations" calls for a close watch on what your browser is doing. In order to automatically block outside attempts to install 3rd party applications, set your browser's security settings as high as possible. To check your browser's current settings in IE, select Tools-Internet Options, then click the Security tab and select the Internet zone. Make sure that the setting is at least "medium," but preferably "high."

One common self-installer is "My Comet Cursor," a tracking application that lets participating websites use jazzed-up mouse cursors. Since the cursor application is required to get the mouse effects, most folks unknowingly click "OK" and let the program install. What they don't realize is that the program does a lot more than make pretty mouse cursors.

With your Medium (or higher) setting, however, you'll be prompted to install software that appears safe.