- Spyware is a general term for a broad category of methods to monitor or track your online behavior. In some cases, it's used for mostly legitimate purposes such as advertising ("adware"). Other times, it's used for less morally acceptable means (such as flooding you with pop up ads, changing your home page, etc.). The worst category is called "malware," which involves keystroke loggers, backdoors, phishers, etc.
- It depends on how the logger operates, but cutting and pasting to the keyboard buffer may not defeat the logger. Besides, it opens you up for a different type of attack (such as someone stealing the file off your hard drive or another user stumbling onto it while using your computer). Would you write down your bank account number and secret phrase and put it in your desk drawer?
- The risks are not just with eBay or PayPal (which is now an eBay company), but most online banks and stores are increasingly a target of the scams. Bottom line: don't trust any e-mail that you get, no matter how official it is. If a company legitimately needs information, they will always have a way for you to update that information via an unsolicited visit to their site or by alternate method (postal, fax, or telephone). You should never send sensitive information via e-mail, since it's unencrypted.
- You don't have to worry as much about spyware threats if you do the following:
1. Keep your operating system and software updated. For Windows PC's, visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com on at least a monthly basis. Nearly all worms and attacks exploit vulnerabilities that have already been fixed by Microsoft.
2. Install an antivirus software package and keep it updated. This will usually keep you from becoming infected if you do something stupid or are not up-to-date on your patches. A/V also will prevent you from unintentionally sending a virus to someone else. Run a scan on your hard drive at least once a week.
3. Install a personal firewall program. This prevents unauthorized people or programs from accessing or attacking your PC. Although I recommend you use a personal firewall even if you are using dial-up, it's especially important that you do so if you're on a DSL or cable modem connection. Some personal firewall programs won't allow designated personal information (such as bank account numbers and your SSN) to leave your computer unless you specifically allow it. If you're really cheap, Windows XP has a built-in firewall that you can turn on (better than nothing).
4. Install and run anti-spyware programs. Two that I use and recommend are Ad-Aware and SpyBot Search-and-Destroy. They scan your computer for signs of spyware and lets you eliminate them. SpyBot even has a tool to "innoculate" your computer against some common spyware tactics.
5. Use common sense when opening attachments. Even if the sender is familiar to you, don't open the document unless you know what it is. Don't be afraid to e-mail the sender and ask if they sent you something (and if so, what it is). Don't fall for the "here's a document for your review," "let me know what you think of this," or "undelivered mail returned to sender" tricks. Don't open any attachment with filenames that end in .bat, .pif, .exe, .com, etc.
6. Don't visit shady sites. Avoid TGP, illegal porn sites, warez sites, MP3 sites, etc. You don't go wandering into dark, crime infested alleys at night, do you?
7. Don't click on pop-ups that say "your computer is vulnerable," or "download this security patch" or "click here to download this cool helper program," etc.
8. Ditch Internet Explorer. Not a month goes by when Microsoft doesn't issue a security patch for the most common web browser on the planet. Common + holes = lots of attacks. Find another broswer, such as Opera or Mozilla. If you don't want to give up IE, make sure you're following recommendations 1-7 above--religiously.
9. Make sure you back up your important data. Once a bad virus or bad luck hits you, you'll never get it back, so burn it to CD, copy it to floppies, copy it to a different computer, or print it out.
Hope that helps. Stay safe.
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