By Dan Ilett, 26 November 2004 10:50
NEWS
Peer-to-peer program Kazaa is the number one spyware threat on the internet, according to Computer Associates.
According to the company's Pest Patrol research, Kazaa created a greater threat than other programs in its top five spyware list because of its widespread popularity. Kazaa claims that its sofware has been downloaded 214 million times.
CA gave Kazaa a high 'clot factor', its measure of how much a program slows a machine by adding uncessary registry entries and directories. However, classifying a popular application like Kazaa as spyware is a delicate matter, and CA admits this create difficulties in labelling them.
"Kazaa does something useful," said Simon Perry, vice-president of security strategy for Computer Associates. "I'm not going to say that it doesn't. But turn that around you're allowing millions of strangers onto your machine. [Kazaa] is number one because of the amount if copies it's got out there."
The company said that any other peer-to-peer file exchange programs, such as Blubster, E-Mule, Gnucleus and WinMX, could also degrade network performance and consume storage space because they are bundled with adware or spyware.
Adware program Ezula came second in the company's top five, beating adopt.hotbar.com and GameSpy Arcade.
Perry said the difficulty in exactly defining spyware was one reason why the company often referred to certain programs as pests. He said that while the definition of a virus was clear today, spyware was a fuzzy area and that the top five probably wouldn't change much because the programs had a much longer lifespan than viruses.
He added that CA used the term 'pests' as an umbrella phrase to cover around 30 types of annoying programs.
"Pest is a broader category. It includes spyware, adware and browser help objects. One of the things virus writers don't try is to come and sue you. Some of the producers of spyware we detect say to us 'Why are you claiming my software has any malicious intent?'"
However, CA's website clearly lists Kazaa as the number one spyware threat. Dan Ilett writes for ZDNet UK.
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. Norma Parr-Crow
My son downloaded Kazaa and Limeware onto our PC. We ended up with a virus that just totally slowwwwwwweeddd down our PC, we could hardly use it. It was an HP machine and although it had system restore to new factory settings the virus was so clever, it ecven prevented that! We had to purchase a CD frm HP and reinstall the new settings.
Also, we had Norton anti-virus and it detected nothing! It was AdAware that found the virus. We knew there was something, since the system was so slow!
I haven't got much confidence in Norton either. I now use several od the freebies too.
2. anonymous
I couldn't help but notice that in the CA's Pest Encyclopedia, AOL has it's own category, AOL Pests, with nearly 500 listed. Looks like maybe AOL should be very close to the top of this Spyware list, but probably slips by CA's listers because of it's financial clout - just as MS products do.
3. Mister G
The version Kazaa K++ is an ideal alternative to regular Kazaa - no spyware or ads. But anyone with a decent sense of security or concern for privacy wouldn't use regular Kazaa, knowing what it does.
4. Mike Softley
RE "Also, we had Norton anti-virus and it detected nothing!"
I had NAV 2003 which missed a nasty trojan called graphics checker. Updated to NAV 2005 and it gets everything. Well worth the $29.
5. anonymous
I have very little faith in Norton anti-virus as it seems to offer very poor protection against some viruses and Trojans. I help a few people out with their computers and many of them have been running Norton (as it comes pre-installed on systems from several vendors) - they have had problems and scans with other AV packages and tools such as Adaware and Spybot have found nasties...As one of the major suppliers, you'd expect more.
6. Michael Horomanski
Ok just to set a few people straight here the last time I checked Norton Anti-Virus does not say that it protects against Adware/Spyware however if you buy Norton System Works that does claim to take care of both Adware/Spyware. Or you can just continue to use your Norton Anti-Virus and then go visit www.download.com and download "ad-aware" and "spybot" these is the best free way to take care of both adware and spyware. However if you're running Windows XP with SP2 and have all the updates Microsoft has their own protection against adware and spyware. Happy Computing!!