Understanding Spyware, Browser Hijackers, and Dialers

Introduction

For the past couple of years there has been a new threat introduced to your computer that Antivirus software does not as of yet remove. This software is developed to track your movements on the Internet, create statistics of what you do on your computer, or even worse, actually hijack your web connections to direct you to pages that you did not ask for. These types of Malware are called Spyware, Browser Hijackers, and Dialers.

Malware is the generic category of any programs that perform a detrimental effect on your computer without your knowledge or permission. Other more notorious types of Malware are viruses, trojans, worms, and backdoors.

Before we define Spyware, Hijackers and Dialers it is important to understand another type of program called Adware.

Adware are programs that are usually free, otherwise known as Freeware, that cause popup advertisements to appear on your computer. That means when you install the software, it pop up advertisements and display them on your computer. Most of these types of software allow you to register the software, by paying some fee, in order to remove the ads. Spyware, on the other hand, are pieces of software that are advertised as Freeware or Adware but that install in your computer, generally without your knowledge, other programs that run in the background collecting data about what web sites you go to, your personal information, the games you play, the software you use, etc, all without your permission. The software will then send this information back to the creator's servers where it is collected.

There are many different types of Spyware and few of those are described below.

Adware Networks

Ad networks are companies that pay software developers and web sites money for allowing their ads to be shown when people use their software or visit their sites. These ads are generally in the form of popups and present you with some sort of advertisement. The problem with these networks is that they place cookies on your computer each time you open an ad served by the particular network. This allows the advertising network to track your movements across the Internet by reading the information contained in the cookies every time you connect to a site that they are on.

Backdoor Santas

These are programs that you download off the Internet and contain valid uses. They do though, collect statistics of your computer use, the sites you go to, the type of hardware, etc and transmit this information back to their servers. They generally do not work with adware networks.

Stalking Horses

These types of spyware are generally bundled into many popular programs and often, but not always, are presented in the installation as desirable additions to the main software, the trojan horse, that you are installing.

Trojan Horse.

These types of software are usually very popular downloads and are free downloads. They almost always contain at least one Stalking Horse and software for ad-serving networks. Many times you are given the option to install these stalking horses or ad-serving program, but they are sometimes hidden in the fine print of the Trojan Horses License Agreement. In some situations, if you choose not to install the Spyware, you will not be able to use main program or Trojan Horse.

There are other types of malicious software that can be installed on your computer. They are described as follows.

Browser Hijackers

Software that tends to Hijack your browsers web connections to do their own purposes. They will change your homepage to another homepage no matter how many times you change it or you can do a search in Google, but instead of getting the results back from Google, your search request is actually hijacked and sent to another search engine.

Dialers

Software that gets installed on your computer that has the ability to make phone calls from your computer, if you have a modem, without your knowledge. These programs will connect to other computers, through your phone line, which are usually porn sites. These numbers are pay per call though, so you get charged for the amount of time your computer is connected to it.

It is also important to note, that practically all Spyware and Hijackers tend to target Internet Explorer and not other browsers such as Netscape or Mozilla Firefox. If you are not against switching your browser, then you can switch to an alternate Web Browser and immediately greatly reduce your risk of infecting your computer with one of these programs.

How to know if the system is infected OR Symptoms of spyware infection

There are only two ways of knowing if this type of software is installed on your computer.

The first way is if you notice your web browser behaving strange. Some common symptoms are:

• Your home page changes on its own.
• You can not change settings in your browser.
• Your search results seem strange.
• You have toolbars on your web browser that you did not install.
• You are getting a lot more popups.
• Your browser suddenly starts crashing.

If any of these symptoms exist then, most likely there is some sort of Spyware or Hijacker installed on he computer.

The second way of detecting spyware is to use a Spyware removal program routinely and let it search through your computer and optionally remove any spyware if it finds them.

Tips for prevention from Malware

• Use anti-virus software
• Use anti-spyware software
• Keep your computer's operating system up-to-date.
• Do not open email attachments from unknown sources.
• Use passwords that are not easy to guess and change them frequently
• Do not download free software unless you have verified that it is legitimate.
• Use a software firewall
• Stay away from 'questionable' websites
• Be wary of pop-ups
• Back up your data regularly