The FTC has shut down a known malware and spyware vendor. On Monday a U.S. District Court handed down temporary restraining order forcing CyberSpy Software to cease selling its RemoteSpy program, which is a keylogger. The company was also ordered to shut down its website.

The program records every keystroke on the infected computer, takes screenshots of the screen and records the addresses of every site visited. It also records all documents opened and logs conversations from a variety of IM programs including MSN Messenger, AIM, Skype, and Yahoo! Messenger. This information is transmitted to CyberSpy’s website where their customers log in to retrieve it. The program also comes with instructions on how to disguise the software and send it via email to their unsuspecting victims. Installation is as simple as clicking on a image. From the FTC’s complaint:

          The defendants violated the FTC Act by engaging in the unfair advertising and selling of software that could be: (1) deployed remotely by someone other than the owner or authorized user of a computer; (2) installed without the knowledge and consent of the owner or authorized user; and (3) used to surreptitiously collect and disclose personal information. The FTC complaint also alleges that the defendants unfairly collected and stored the personal information gathered by their spyware on their own servers and disclosed it to their clients. The complaint further alleges that the defendants provided their clients with the means and instrumentalities to unfairly deploy and install keylogger spyware and to deceive consumer victims into downloading the spyware.

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Posted in Fighting spam, Spam news No Comments Tags: malware, spyware

Most web browsers are supposed to protect people by implementing security zones. These safe zones use different security settings of a web browser, which can vary based on the location of the web page being viewed. Phishing emails can lure users to a malicious code web site.  These sites attempt to install spyware, malware or both onto the unknowing person’s computer. These web sites rely on weaknesses in web browsers, which will allow installation and execution of harmful programs on a computer.  These web browser vulnerabilities allow overriding settings, even when these sites are located in a security zone that is not trusted and normally would not allow those actions.

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