Spyware
Spyware
is a broad category of malicious software designed
to intercept or take partial control of a computer's
operation without the informed consent of that machine's
owner or legitimate user.
Spyware
differs from viruses and worms in that it does not
usually self-replicate. Like many recent viruses,
however, spyware is designed to exploit infected computers
for commercial gain. Typical tactics furthering this
goal include delivery of unsolicited pop-up advertisements;
theft of personal information (including financial
information such as credit card numbers); monitoring
of Web-browsing activity for marketing purposes; or
routing of HTTP requests to advertising sites.
As
of 2005, spyware has become one of the pre-eminent
security threats for computers running Microsoft Windows
operating systems. Some malware on the Linux and Mac
OS X platforms has behavior similar to Windows spyware,
but to date has not become anywhere near as widespread.
