Webroot State of Spyware Report

On a flight from San Franciso to Washington Dulles I managed to read the latest State of Spyware report from Webroot Software. I'm not sure how I got the heavy printed version. Maybe it was sent courtesy of Richard Stiennon, who is Vice President of Threat Research. (That's an interesting title.)

I thought the report was useful. It provides a broad look at spyware, and specifics on several examples. It contains an excellent section on spyware-related legislation. The report provides plenty of background for management who need justification to spend money on spyware defenses. I even bought into the idea that automated spyware defenses are required.

>On a related note, the Symantec Internet Security Threat Report Volume VIII is available for download. I have not read this one yet. It is a huge .pdf though. I believe a report like that complements material from organizations like Webroot. Symantec takes a broader look at Internet threats. It also examines vulnerabilities (which we know are not threats).

Comments

Anonymous said…
The main thing that makes me think automated spyware defenses are a good thing is that spyware can cause a lot of noise on IDS. Of course it depends on which IDS and how it is tuned, but I think reducing all that unwanted network traffic is a good thing.
7:41 AM
John Ward said…
The problem with automated defenses is that spyware writers will always find a way around them. The problem with all foolproof plans is that they do not take in to account the ingenuity of fools. The end user will always find a way to get hit with some spyware. The government should go after the perpetrators of spyware since it is usually companies and advertising agencies behind them. It is like anything else in capitalism, if it becomes unprofitable, companies will cease to do it. If the government starts to hit the companies behind spyware, such as the companies that distribute spyware through their installation programs, websites, and companied that make use of the data retrieved through spyware, with large ridiculous fines, they will stop using them. Granted there is always that whole overseas thing, but it sends a message to US companies that aggressive marketing behavior that is intrusive on the property of others will not be tolerated. I think this has a better chance of succeeding than prosecuting hackers, although it has a snowballs chance in hell of ever being done.
9:59 AM
Anonymous said…
That's true. Hackers themselves are harder to trace. But for spyware that is bundled with software, this should be cut down. Meanwhile we have to bear with automated defenses and use manual removal techniques when things get serious.
11:37 AM
Anonymous said…
I suppose automated searches of the Internet can help find malware, and automated client side tools can help identify known malware. However, both of these *generally* are tools that suffer from the "known bad" syndrome -- they only catch what they know is bad. Everything else is allowed.

The risk of using these tools is that pointy headed managers will assume they catch *all* bad code, and won't fund other defenses. Then they get 0wned.

These tools should come with warning labels. They are only part of a good defense.
3:17 PM
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
5:58 AM
Anonymous said…
I too hate spyware and adware and am always searching for spyware blaster related information. The more people around the world who become aware of spyware blaster the better.
2:34 AM
Anonymous said…
I personally use this Webroot spy sweeper... It is really very useful...
5:21 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Zeek in Action Videos

Image
This is a quick note to point blog readers to my Zeek in Action YouTube video series for the Zeek network security monitoring project .  Each video addresses a topic that I think might be of interest to people trying to understand their network using Zeek and adjacent tools and approaches, like Suricata, Wireshark, and so on.  I am especially pleased with Video 6 on monitoring wireless networks . It took me several weeks to research material for this video. I had to buy new hardware and experiment with a Linux distro that I had not used before -- Parrot .  Please like and subscribe, and let me know if there is a topic you think might make a good video.
Read more

MITRE ATT&CK Tactics Are Not Tactics

Image
Just what are "tactics"? Introduction MITRE ATT&CK  is a great resource, but something about it has bothered me since I first heard about it several years ago. It's a minor point, but I wanted to document it in case it confuses anyone else. The MITRE ATT&CK Design and Philosophy document from March 2020 says the following: At a high-level, ATT&CK is a behavioral model that consists of the following core components: • Tactics, denoting short-term, tactical adversary goals during an attack; • Techniques, describing the means by which adversaries achieve tactical goals; • Sub-techniques, describing more specific means by which adversaries achieve tactical goals at a lower level than techniques; and • Documented adversary usage of techniques, their procedures, and other metadata. My concern is with MITRE's definition of "tactics" as "short-term, tactical adversary goals during an attack," which is oddly recursive. The key word in the tacti...
Read more

New Book! The Best of TaoSecurity Blog, Volume 4

Image
  I've completed the TaoSecurity Blog book series . The new book is  The Best of TaoSecurity Blog, Volume 4: Beyond the Blog with Articles, Testimony, and Scholarship .  It's available now for Kindle , and I'm working on the print edition.  I'm running a 50% off promo on Volumes 1-3 on Kindle through midnight 20 April. Take advantage before the prices go back up. I described the new title thus: Go beyond TaoSecurity Blog with this new volume from author Richard Bejtlich. In the first three volumes of the series, Mr. Bejtlich selected and republished the very best entries from 18 years of writing and over 18 million blog views, along with commentaries and additional material.  In this title, Mr. Bejtlich collects material that has not been published elsewhere, including articles that are no longer available or are stored in assorted digital or physical archives. Volume 4 offers early white papers that Mr. Bejtlich wrote as a network defender, either for technica...
Read more