In the face of recent viruses, such as Sasser and Netsky, spyware might not seem an important risk to business. But malicious spyware is a serious threat that cannot be ignored. Traditionally, spy-ware surreptitiously and invisibly gathers information on a user and transmits the information back to website operators, who then use the data to present users with targeted adverts. Or they sell their database of internet usage statistics to other organ-isations. But to play down the real threat of spy-ware, and the risk for misuse, would be to vastly underestimate the potential harm it can cause.
Take the example of a big investment house that was recently a victim of hacking and fraud that resulted from a malicious form of spyware. A day trader at the stockbrokers was shocked to dis-cover that he had lost more than $40,000 (£26,000) after installing what he thought was a market analysis program. This later turned out to be a keylogger application that transmitted his account login details and passwords back to a hacker. Thankfully, the hacker has since been tracked down, but the incident cannot have done much good for the company’s reputation.
