The Spyware Invasion

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The Spyware Invasion

• NCIT Forum Presentation10/5/2004

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Spyware Defined

• Software that tracks computer usage without the
  owners knowledge or explicit permission,
  particularly those that utilize said computers
  Internet connection to report its findings to a
  parent server.
• Software designed to steal information for
  commercial or illegal purposes.

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More on Spyware

• Sometimes called Adware or Malware with
  subtle differences in connotation
• Intended to track computer usage for commercial
  or nefarious purposes
• Gets installed along with other beneficial
  programs

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Spyware Examples

• Advertisement pop-ups
• Keystroke loggers
• Hijackers
• Other Trojans

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Spyware Sources

• Viruses, worms, etc.
• Free softwareExamples
• Hotbar
• Smiley Central
• Gator/GAIN
• Other Outlook and web browser modification
  programs or file sharing services
• If it seems too good to be free, youre probably
  paying for it somehow!

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Is Spyware a Problem?

• Spyware is damaging to your computing experience
  in the following ways
• Computer performance is degraded
• Internet bandwidth is consumed
• Your email address is made more available to
  spammers

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Is Spyware a Problem?

• Spyware can be damaging to your personal finances
  in the following ways
• Account information may be stolen
• Passwords may be harvested
• Contact lists may be stolen in order to target
  your contacts as well

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Statistics

• The National Cyber Security Alliance found 90 of
  PCs have at least one instance of spyware.
• Earthlink reports that the average number of
  spyware infections per client PC is 28.
• Microsoft estimates that half of all Windows XP
  system crashes are due to spyware.
• Dell Computers reports that approximately 12 of
  all calls to their tech-support line are
  spyware-related issues.
• An aggregate of major ISPs report that the length
  of the average spyware-related call is 25
  minutes, compared to the average of 6 minutes for
  all other issues.
• Source http//www.webroot.com

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Possible Solutions

• Educate our users
• Pros
• Does not incur capital expense
• Cons
• Not very reliable (when is the last time you
  defragmented your hard drive?)
• Difficult to maintain training programs for new
  hires and to remind users

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Possible Solutions

• Manual Inspection/Removal
• Pros
• Extremely reliable
• Does not incur capital expense
• Cons
• Tremendous strain on time resources of technical
  support
• Disruptive for end-users
• Never-ending task

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Possible Solutions

• Implement Enterprise Spyware Solution
• Pros
• Fairly reliable
• Small commitment of tech staffs time
• Automatic reporting
• Cons
• Incurs large capital expense
• Reduces PC performance (as with real-time virus
  scans)
• Requires more robust PC environment than other
  solutions

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Conclusions

• Spyware is a serious problem.
• We are not adequately staffed to support a manual
  removal effort
• Columbia College needs to implement an enterprise
  solution in order to handle its spyware issues.

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Remaining Questions

• What sort of minimum hardware requirements would
  the desktop PC need to handle a software-based
  spyware solution?
• Can an enterprise server solution extend to the
  ESD campuses? If not, how do we handle it there?
• What is a viable time table to implement?
• Are there any stop-gap measures that we can
  take?

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What To Do From Home

• There are free adware/spyware scanners available
  to you.
• Spybot Search Destroy is the product that
  Technology Services recommends. You may download
  it from following URLhttp//safer-networking.org
  /en/spybotsd/index.html respectively. Download
  it to your home computer and run it frequently.

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Parting Thoughts

• Dont install anything without doing adequate
  research (or asking Tech Services first). There
  is a reason we dont support ALL software ?
• Free software is rarely truly free!

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The End

• (canned applause track here)