Spyware: Who Is Really Paying the Price? A Matter of Privacy and Performance Mike Houghton
A Matter of Privacy and Performance
As you can see, spyware can potentially cause a significant waste of end user time as well as inefficiency and frustration.
Of course there is also the issue of information privacy, which may be of some small concern, at least to some of us. This is a very gray area that gets into many different legal aspects. Because in many cases the software alerts the user to its information tracking (via the finest of fine print, of course), spyware is not illegal software. Still, the data that it collects can cause a security conscious user to be concerned about privacy issues and therefore the user may prefer not to install the software.
This should also be a concern to any IT Security department. For as much information as spyware programs collect now, they have the capability to collect much more. The majority of spyware programs are installed as executable programs on the PC, and therefore have the ability to do anything that any normal program can do. This can include, but is not limited to, scanning files on the hard drive, reading cookies, scanning your browser history, recording keystrokes, interacting with the browser software, and changing the browsers default homepage.
The information collected is then sent back to the tracking server for collection. Making matters worse, this information is often sold to other companies for profit or used for statistical and marketing purposes.
Spyware will also cause a drain on not only network resources, but local client system resources and IT staff resources as well. Spyware programs are usually "memory resident," meaning that they load into the PC's memory upon boot, and stay there using up vital RAM. They also use a tiny amount of processor time that can hamper performance. Some spyware programs can keep log files or temporary files that can grow quite large in size over time. Certain spyware programs have also been known to cause problems with Internet browsers, degrade performance, and result in Windows Illegal Operation errors.
Who's paying the price?
When you add up such factors as the strain on your network recourses, IT support staff resources, potential security risks, and end user downtime and frustration you get a better idea of how it all leads up to a real and measurable loss of productivity. These are all factors that will end up costing you or your business in the long run. So when it comes to spyware and adware, we all end up paying the price.
