Spam, Malware and other Privacy Rights

Most of us have heard the terms spyware, malware and adware, but what are these really? Let me give you a quick combined definition.

These days, the term "malware" refers to a large variety of software which all has one thing in common: it is unwanted software which someone else wants to run on your computer. This software "infects" your computer, making it behave in a way which you do not approve of.

Malware can include:

• traditional viruses and worms, which are usually destructive in some way - these can delete files, wreck the operating system, etc.
• modern viruses and worms, which give control over your computer to an attacker - they can then use your computer to send spam or launch attacks on other computers
• "spyware", which monitors what you do on your computer - this can lead to credit card or identity theft
• "adware", which shows you unwanted advertising - this typically shows up as pop-up ads or an unwanted homepage
• a combination of the above

There used to be many important differences between these groups, but these days they all use the same infection methods. It is no longer useful to make a distinction between them.
Typical tactics 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, and routing of HTTP requests to advertising sites.

Spam is loosely defined as unsolicited, unwanted e-mail messages from a sender you don’t know. Spam e-mail is usually sent in bulk with messages having substantially identical content. Spam messages, by the millions, flood computer mailboxes each year.
Spam breaks down further into sub-categories:

(1) nuisance e-mails, such as solicitations to buy products or services; and
(2) malicious e-mails, which often seek to trick you into revealing personal information that then can be used to defraud or damage you and your computer.

While the nuisance spam is the most numerous and annoying, it’s the malicious e-mail that is potentially the most serious and which appears to be increasing disproportionately.