What is Spyware, Malware, and Adware???
In the field of computing, the term spyware refers to a broad category of malicious software designed to intercept or take partial control of a computer's operation without the informed consent of that machine's owner or legitimate user. While the term taken literally suggests software that surreptitiously monitors the user, it has come to refer more broadly to software that subverts the computer's operation for the benefit of a third party.
Spyware differs from viruses and worms in that it does not usually self-replicate. Like many recent viruses, however, spyware by design exploits infected computers for commercial gain. Typical tactics furthering this goal include delivery of unsolicited pop-up advertisements; theft of personal information (including financial information such as credit card numbers); monitoring of Web-browsing activity for marketing purposes; or routing of HTTP requests to advertising sites.
As of 2005, spyware has become one of the pre-eminent security threats to computer-systems running Microsoft Windows operating-systems (and especially to users of Internet Explorer because of that browser's collaboration with the Windows operating system). Some malware on the Linux and Mac OS X platforms has behavior similar to Windows spyware, but to date has not become anywhere near as widespread.
Topics in this Series of Articles...
- Learn more about spyware, adware, malware and viruses.
- How are Windows PCs infected with spyware, adware, malware or viruses?
- What kind of problems can spyware, adware, malware and viruses cause?
- How to avoid getting infected with spyware, adware, malware and viruses.
- The legal implications of spyware, adware, malware and viruses.
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