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Spyware includes software programs and technologies (called "bots") that seek to surreptitiously collect data and transmit it back to a host source.
The category of spyware and other grayware threats includes adware, Internet cookies, Trojans, and surveillance tools. The type of information collected by spyware ranges from the relatively innocuous (a history of visited Web sites) to the downright alarming (credit card and Social Security numbers, bank accounts, and passwords).
The majority of Spyware/Grayware comes embedded in a "cool" software package which a user finds on a Web site and downloads. You can configure IWSVA to scan these downloads, and if the file matches one of the pattern files, you can have IWSVA block it. Some spyware programs are part of a legitimate program. Others are purely illicit. The network administrator must determine whether a given class of software is something he or she wants to allow on the network, or something they want IWSVA to block at the gateway.
Increasingly, users are installing more and more malicious types of spyware without their knowledge, either as a "drive-by download", or as the result of clicking some option in a deceptive pop-up window. What concerns corporate security departments is that the more sophisticated types of spyware can be used to monitor keystrokes, scan files, install additional spyware, reconfigure Web browsers, and snoop email and other applications. In some cases, spyware can even capture screenshots or turn on Web cams.
Theft of confidential information, loss of employee productivity, consumption of large amounts of bandwidth, damage to corporate desktops, and a spike in the number of help desk calls related to spyware are forcing corporations of all sizes to take action. Spyware can represent both a security and system management nightmare.