Threats From Spyware - Why Spyware Is Dangerous ?
Tracking Let me first tell you how spyware came into existence. It all started when marketer and advertisers came up with an idea to track the surfing habits of the internet consumer. By knowing what Internet users are looking for on the Internet, advertisers can better sale or pre-sell their products. Thus software with a name spyware was created that resides on the users’ computer and monitor and record users’ behaviours, such as track websites they visit online. Tracking may not harm internet users, but it can become a bigger problem when it starts stealing their personal information. Identity Theft Spywares are more dangerous than virus. Because virus can only harm your computer, but spyware can damage your identity. Identity theft is the fastest growing non-violent crime in North America. Spyware has the capability to gather all the user information such as their banking password, credit card information, PIN# etc…, and all the information that’s either stored in ones computer or transmitted while surfing. This information can then be used to perform identity theft. If you think its safe of not storing any banking password in your computer, think again. There are spyware designed for capturing your banking information. These spyware only gets activated when you visit to your banking site, and record all the information that you type in. Annoyance Have you ever encounter a banner ad or pop ups while surfing or running some program? If not then you should count yourself lucky. Showing advertisements such as banner ads and pop ups is the job of spyware. These types of activity annoys most of the internet users, but beware, in the background they take up valuable memory and slow your computer. Redirecting URLs Internet marketing industry is flourishing and along with it threats from spywares. There are many businesses both legitimate or illegitimate that pays big time for person responsible to redirecting customers to their site. Internet crooks use spyware to achieve this. These spywares changes user browsing capability, by redirecting their searches, or setting their home page to some other site. The risk for that kind of activity is not higher, but these kinds of spyware open the door for more malicious spywares. Controlling your PC There are spywares that alters your computer registry, making it ideal for hijacking by some hacker. Spyware, can also use your computer as a vehicle to perform illegal activities without your notice such as distributing harmful programs. Long Distance Calling What else, there is spyware created for users who uses dial up modem for internet connection. These spywares uses dial up connection for long distance call, leaving the poor user to pay he bills. The fact is, threats from spyware is increasing, spyware is getting smarter (and nastier) every day. The adware, malware, keyloggers, and drive-by downloaders get tricker, harder to detect, and harder to kill with each passing iteration. With so many spyware variants available, it’s important to prevent spyware infecting your computer. Here is guide that will assist you on spyware prevention. Online predators also use spyware to meet their end. Children can easily be tricked to download a program that has a spyware, therefore it’s important to educate them on how to use internet based technologies. You should also read an article on how spyware infects, which will help you to diagnose whether your computer has been infected by a spyware or not. Spyware prevention is just one small part of the whole computer safety process. For implementing whole computer safety process read computer safety guidelines.
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Are the threats from spyware is such a big deal that you should be concerned about, and take all the