Spy ware is a type of malicious software that collects information from the computer without the knowledge or consent of the owner of the computer. There are a list of items which fall victim to the spyware and they include; keystrokes, private email addresses, private information present in the computing system and others including screenshots. The data collected is usually sent to online attackers. These online attackers might decide to put the data on the market for other online attackers. They might also decide to use the data collected for marketing or spam or use the data to commit financial crimes or to spot an incidence of robbery.
Spyware is becoming increasingly common as online assailants and other established criminals that are becoming rampant in the current days of computer technology. These criminals use these data collected from computers as a instrument for crime that is committed against an individual, business institutions and the government are the main victims for these online crimes.
One might wonder who the users of spyware are. Some of these people are trusted insiders, others are just pure online attackers, another category is that of organized crime and the last is a marketing body or organization. The information obtained through spyware by these individuals can have negative impacts such as financial loss where the person uses identity theft or fraudulence by using the credit card. Such incidences reduce the consumer’s assurance in online security and reduce the compliance of these consumers to engage in online electronic trade.
Reducing g the profitability of using spyware can be one of the ways of fighting the probabilities of criminals using the software. Technical approaches that have been used in combating spyware include discovering it, blocking or ultimately eliminating it. Spyware necessitates the need for key logging at work because the spyware can get access to important information from the computer, which can be used against an organization.