Spyware programs are applications that gather information about users' Internet habits and movements. The data, when collected, is sent to the creators themselves or to third parties, either directly or after being stored on computer. Spyware is installed on systems in numerous ways, including: Trojans installed without users' consent; web pages with certain ActiveX controls or code that exploit vulnerabilities; applications with shareware or freeware type licenses downloaded from the Internet, etc. Spyware can be installed either with or without users' consent, and either with or without their knowledge about the data gathered and/or the use of it. InfoJack uses the following propagation or distribution methods: - Exploiting vulnerabilities with the intervention of the user: exploiting vulnerabilities in file formats or applications. To exploit them successfully it needs the intervention of the user: opening files, viewing malicious web pages, reading emails, etc.
- Via Internet, exploiting remote vulnerabilities: attacking random IP addresses, in which it tries to insert a copy of itself by exploiting one or more vulnerabilities.
- Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing programs: it makes copies of itself with enticing names in shared folders belonging to these programs. Other users of this type of networks then voluntarily download and run the infected files.
|