The Hindu Business Line : Microsoft bid to turn spyware threat into sales tool

MICROSOFT Corporation, notorious in nerd circles for the security holes in its Windows products, has sought opportunity in adversity by introducing two tools to combat spyware and viruses. The first beta of the Windows AntiSpyware application, available for download from Microsoft's Web site, uses software designed by Giant Software, a security start-up, which Microsoft acquired in December last year.

In specific, Windows AntiSpyware has a component called SpyNet, which is a network of PC users across the globe which report on spyware that should be blocked. The network had been set up by Giant.

The other component of Windows AntiSpyware is a malicious software removal tool, based on a technology developed by a Romanian company, GeCad Software, which Microsoft picked up in 2003.

This tool is designed to augment, not replace, other anti-virus systems. The anti-virus software is available for download from January 11 and will be updated with fresh virus definitions on the second Tuesday of every month.

As of now, it would seem that Microsoft is planning to promote its anti-virus software through the channels it uses to make available fixes for its own bugs.

Observers say the release of the malicious software removal tool will prove beneficial to anti-virus firms - Windows users will be persuaded to buy anti-virus software rather than use the tool as an alternative.

Major security threat: Microsoft's initiative comes at a time when spyware is replacing the mass-mailing worm and is emerging as a major security threat, and, of course, a serious hassle for businesses worldwide.

Addressing the recent InfoSecurity 2004 conference in New York, Mr Roger Thompson, Director of content research security management at Computer Associates International Inc, had said "The only things multiplying faster than definitions for what constitutes spyware is the malware itself," and said the threat from the spyware will make mass-mailing viruses seem a minor nuisance.

Mr Thompson said, "The mass-mailers became a problem because they were spreading faster than we could issue updates to block them. They're still around today, but we've figured out ways to keep them at bay. They cease to be a real strategic threat to corporations... "

According to Mr Thomson, legitimate companies that market P2P applications - Kazaa and Grokster for instance - have built spyware acceptance into obtuse end-user licence agreements. "When you install the P2P programme, you agree in advance to accept all future changes, even the changes made by the tricklers."

Embedded spyware and adware, which come with P2P and other applications, result in a significant degradation of network performance and an increase in storage consumption.

Heated debate: The problem, however, is that life is seldom simple in cyberspace. Thus, the scare about malware and Microsoft's response to it coincide with a heated debate about what exactly spyware is.

The debate has been triggered by the allegation made by some that the US Internet research service provider ComScore Networks' Marketscore application is invasive and can take over a PC.

ComScore's Marketscore application is installed in over a million PCs in America and is the foundation of its research services such as tracking e-commerce trends and Web site traffic and are used by Fortune 500 companies and advertising agencies. The company has denied the allegation and is lobbying for the legitimisation of Marketscore and other data collection products. It is also trying to get Internet service providers and security outfits to accept a new label - researchware - for its software to distinguish it from spyware.

Meanwhile, ComScore makes no bones about the fact that it tracks the activities of its customers, referred to as "panellists," and says that it discloses its practices in full and also protects the privacy of its customers by making available only aggregated data after scrubbing information that could go back to any individual. The company's privacy policy, practices and data security are audited by Ernst & Young.

The company's Marketscore is a downloadable application that is claimed to speed up Internet surfing and, along with Symantec, protects e-mail from viruses. In return, it tracks, with permission, the user's Web surfing habits and puts together "clickstream" data meant for research use.

Marketscore, in order to compile data, re-routes Internet traffic through its own servers and decrypts secure data transfers between a PC user and a Web site using the de facto security standard for e-commerce transactions, secure sockets layer.

As ComScore acts as a proxy server, "panellists" cannot access the Internet directly. This throws up the possibility of a break in Marketscore, which may expose panellists to a security breach. But ComScore says it has not had a security breach in the five years of its operation.

However, those opposed to researchware argue that disclosures are usually so dense as to be incomprehensible and that most people don't understand them.

What is spyware: Till the wrangling is over, Internet users will just have to do with a quick and dirty definition of spyware as software that is downloaded onto a PC without the permission of the owner and leads to a clear, unambiguous disclosure of all its functions. Further, any software that denies people reasonable control over an application — uninstallation, for instance - can be treated as spyware which spies on the users of the application and collects personal data such as financial records and passwords.

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