RE: Adware, spyware, and trojans

[<Bruce.Orcutt () alltel com>]

I've used ad-aware myself on many machines both in the lab I am a sysadmin for, as well as at home.

It does quite a good job at finding most of the common spyware programs.  You'd be amazed how much can be loaded on 
your machine without you realizing it.

I've yet to run into a negative side effect from running it, but it includes provisions for making backup copies of 
registry entries, etc to allow you to return software incase a piece of software was misidentified as spyware.

Bruce Orcutt 
Alltel Communications-IT/ ILAB 
(330) 963-1739 (phone) 
(330) 890-0469 (pager) 
(330) 388-7585 (off-hours cell) 



-----Original Message-----
From: Jebb Stewart [mailto:jebb.stewart () moon fsl noaa gov]
Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 12:43 PM
To: Carere, Courtney
Cc: security-basics () securityfocus com
Subject: Re: Adware, spyware, and trojans


Courtney,

One program I am aware of to remove adware and spyware is ad-aware by
lavasoft http://www.lavasoftusa.com.   Has any body used this?

Jebb
 
On Fri, 2002-12-06 at 16:48, Carere, Courtney wrote:
>  -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> Upon reading "The Art of Deception" by Kevin Mitnick yesterday (an
> excellent book, by the way), he writes that most antivirus software
> does not detect spyware, which was a shock to me.  Spyware seems to
> be defined as software that logs keystrokes, screenshots, user
> actions, etc.  I have a couple of questions:
>
> 1.  What's the distinction between spyware, adware, and trojan
> software?  (My antivirus software says it protects against Trojans,
> and I've seen programs like SubSeven in its log files.)
>
> 2.  Is there any good software that detects and removes spyware,
> ideally controlled and updated continuously from a central server?
>
> Thanks!
>
> - - Courtney Carere
>
>
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: PGP 7.0.4
>
> iQA/AwUBPfDTHHcM/5zG0KHEEQIcrACg73VSeTkX/ecvtX+HOWnFNCVNsUUAoMqs
> n4t8pKXIbtMIQaMiwRhLW/gN
> =4uWy
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
-- 
=============================================================
  Jebb Stewart
  NOAA Forecast Systems Laboratory
  GPS-IPW Project -- <http://www.gpsmet.noaa.gov/>

  303-497-6832 (Voice)         NOAA, R/FS3
  303-497-6014 (Fax)           325 Broadway
  720-272-2541 (Cell/Page)     Boulder, CO  80305-3328
==============================================================