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Unwanted programs
ActiveX technology —
Applets —
cookies —
Dialers —
Highjackers —
Hoaxes —
"Honey pots" —
Pop-ups —
Remote administration utilities —
Spybots —
Spyware —
Technologies of social engineering —
Vulnerabilities —
Web bugs —
Zombie
ActiveX technology - technology for modification of OCX elements developed by Microsoft corporation used for multimedia client-server applications. It is actively used by attackers because the technology has numerous security holes helping to enter the victim computer. One disable loading ActiveX elements to computer by using Internet Explorer.
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Applets - applications, small Java-programs embedded into HTML pages. By their nature these programs are not malicious, but can be used for malicious purposes. Especially dangerous applets are for online gamers because Java applets are necessarily used in the games. Applets just like spyware can be used for sending out information collected on the computer to the third party.
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cookies - files with the user's data collected by Web-servers and stored on computer hard drive. After the visit to any Web-server the information about user's preferences is stored in special files called cookies which are used for user identification by the server. The data taken from cookie files is used by spamers for compiling the mailing lists. The information collection in cookie files can be disabled by using Internet Explorer.
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Dialers - special computer programs designed for scanning certain range of telephone numbers so as to find the one answering the modem. Next thing the attackers do is using found numbers to increase the victim's phone bill or hidden connection of the user via modem to expensive telephone services.
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Hoaxes - are not malicious e-mail messages written in emphasized neutral tone which tells about supposedly outspreading new virus.
Most of the virus hoaxes have one or several following characteristics. Virus name the author of the message refers to is constructed without heed to conventions used by majority of anti-virus companies. It is specifically mentioned that by now the "virus" was not detected by anti-virus programs. A user is offered to find certain file with Windows find tool and delete it from the disk. In the e-mail message there is a request to inform all user's friends and those listed in his address book in case the file was found. Despite all harmlessness of such hoax its danger is obvious - mass mailing of the copies of the useless message increases the mail traffic and takes users time.
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"Honey pots" - lure-pages which description and keywords given by the search engine satisfy the search criteria. In reality they just lure the user and contain all sorts of exploit-programs, unwanted and malicious software.
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Highjackers - "highjack" is a synonym to "grasp". It is a kind of unwanted computer program. The main goal of such program is forceful setting of start page needed by the customer on the computer where the Trojan was able to get in. The programs use gaps in security systems of Internet browsers and put themselves into the system register. Usually the manual clean of the register does not help because such Trojans have a restoration function for register data and the means of masking so as to look like system files. Such programs are used by the owners of popular sites with large number of visitors - musical, gaming, sites for adults.
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Pop-ups - are not malicious programs. It is a kind of adware in the form of suddenly appearing on the monitor screen advertising windows of the small size.
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Remote administration utilities - not malicious programs but they can be used for malicious purposes. The utilities enable remote access to the network and remote actions on the network from anywhere in Internet.
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Spybots - not virus programs. They are independent functional modules doing one task or another. Spybots are used by hackers for monitoring the network activities.
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Spyware - dangerous for user programs (not viruses) designed for system monitoring and sending out collected information to the third party - author or customer of the program. Among clients ordering spyware are spamers, advertisers, spam-agencies, criminal groups, industrial espionage representatives. Spyware is "interested" in system data, browser type, visited Web-nods, and sometime the contents of the files of the victim's computer hard drive. Such programs secretly get into the computer together with some shareware or after viewing specially built HTML-pages and pop-ups. They install themselves without user's notification. Side effects of spyware present on the computer are instable browser operation and decreased performance of the system.
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Technologies of social engineering - methods of getting confidential information from users by hoodwink. Very often this leads to voluntary disclosure of the information by users. Social engineering does not use special computer programs - the fraud is built on trivial lies and using people's gullibility and naivety. Most often the real looking letters from existing credit organizations are sent where you are asked to confirm the password for account access and PIN-code of the credit card.
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Vulnerability - a part of program code which allows to use it for disordering the system's operation and for entering the networks. Nowadays the progress in speed of exploiting the vulnerabilities is such that the time between publication of data on "the gap" discovery and creation of the tool for entering the system via such gap by attackers is measured in few days. Especially "popular" among hackers and virus writers numerous vulnerabilities of most widely used in the world software of Microsoft corporation.
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Web bugs - the tool for tracking the Internet user. It is transparent 1x1 pixel graphic file used for collecting information on visiting the site user. The information can include date and time of viewing, browser type, monitor parameters, JavaScript settings, cookie, address in Internet. The bugs are used also by spamers who embeds them into sent messages so they can find out whether the address is real or not.
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Zombies - small computer programs distributed around Internet by computer worms. Zombie-programs install themselves into infected system and wait for further commands to execute.
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