Spy Software

Spy Software

Spy software is a program that monitors the activities performed on a computer or network of computers (sites visited, keystrokes utilized) and reports them back to the person or the company doing the monitoring. It is often embedded in a system without the knowledge of the end user.

Spy software is sometimes used to gather marketing data so that companies can tailor offers based on the way people surf the net (which sites they choose to visit and patronize, topics they choose to research, etc.).

Spy software can also be used for more malicious purposes such as stealing data and personal information, rewriting computer operations, or even damaging or destroying a computer's hard drive.

Spy software is sometimes hard to detect but there are programs available designed to seek out, isolate, and eradicate spy software on computer systems. These programs must remain as up-to-date as possible since the spy software, and the methods that it uses to infect systems, are ever changing and adapting.

Monitoring the output of spy software can be done remotely or locally depending on the program being used. With remote viewing, the information collected is housed on a computer (or computer network) separate from the one being monitored; there are a number of host companies that perform this service for a (usually monthly) fee. Local viewing is done on the computer being monitored; the program hidden is from anyone other than the individual who installed the spy software.

Reasons for Utilizing Spy Software

Beyond criminal activity, businesses and individuals could have very legitimate reasons for installing and utilizing spy software on computers or computer networks.

Monitoring software, for example, could be used to track internet usage (sites visited, programs downloaded) so that employers can know that employees aren't using company time to perform personal tasks; spy software can also allow parents to know what kinds of sites their children are attempting to access in order to protect them from objectionable material. Some of these programs are so comprehensive that they can record and report each and every keystroke made on a computer.

Some spy software can even make screen captures of sites visited and report on changes made by an end user on the local hard disc (file folder creation or deletion as well changes made to existing files).

Some of this monitoring software can be used with filtering software that has user-defined filters which can block specified sites (or categories of sites) and even specified keywords which prevents the end user, be it an employee or a child, from visiting sites deemed off-limits for whatever reason (sites not necessary for conducting business in the case of employees, for example, or adult-oriented sites that you want to make sure your children cannot access while they are surfing the net).

Network analyzers (sometimes known as sniffers) can detect and report on any and all internet and e-mail activity being conducted in a computer network without the end users realizing that it's been done. This kind of surveillance allows company owners, mangers, and supervisors to know exactly how employees are using the computer during working hours.

By Michael Willis           


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