What is Spyware?

Published on: February 26th, 2015

Spyware is the combination of the words Spy and software making up the word. Now before you start thinking cloak and dagger, fedora and trench coat, North Korea, China, NSA, FBI or your ex, it is not a black hat is that. Spyware does gather information about how and what you use your computer for; what do you email about; what do you search on; etc. Its purpose is not to deliver that information to some government entity or your ex (typically). The purpose is marketing and advertisement – specifically targeted marketing or to be able to deliver “relevant ad content”.  If they deliver an ad to you on something you’re interested in, you’re more likely to click on that ad and they get paid when you do.   In many senses it is not much different than what search engines (google, yahoo, bing, aol, etc) do or even what big retail stores do by capturing your purchase to a “reward card” or with your Credit Card number. Except that it typically is running all the time capturing everything you do whether or not you are using their application or service.  It is typically installed with your permission but covertly hiding an acknowledgement inside the licensing agreement that most agree to without read for some other usually free piece of software. When Spyware is present a sister adware program is also usually found. They can also include a backdoor downloader program – allowing other programs to be downloaded and installed without your knowledge.   Because they give you “free” use of a program and disclose they are installing “other programs” in exchange for that use, they often operate in a “gray area” of the law.   Some have actually filed suit against big anti-malware companies to get their spyware programs removed from detection.