Spyware Adware Protection

I just bumped into an article from Sandra Rossi with Computerworld Australia, which I thought was a great read. It deals with the invention of a Russian "flirt-bot" or spyware that is able to gather personal information from unsuspecting singles.

Talk about an instance of technology gone bad. This "flirt-bot" named CyberLover is able to initiate and conduct conversations with unsuspecting humans in chat rooms, notably online dating sites. Developed in Russia, the creators of CyberLover claim it is able to simultaneously establish a new relationship with up to 10 different people inside of 30 minutes.

CyberLover is pre-programmed with a series of questions to ask its unsuspecting users. It is than able to digest the responses it receives and develop follow up questions. As the conversation progresses, CyberLover begins to ask more detailed and pointed questions.

Sample questions that CyberLover may ask include:

• "Where can I send you a Valentine's Day card?"
• ""What's your date of birth? I'm planning a surprise for your birthday?"

While seemingly innocent questions to answer, you have just provided CyberLover with both your home address and your date of birth. Both are vital details for someone looking to commit identity theft.

CyberLover also has the option to invite its prey to a personalized web page. This page can be set up to load additional spyware or malware onto the unsuspecting person's computer.

CyberLover is then able to keep all of the information it gathers on each user in a data base. This data base could be passed onto various people with bad intent, and you could open yourself up to identity theft. The potential downside to a tool like this could be enormous.

CyberLover is only reported in Russia right now targeting various Russian websites, but its creators have mentioned a mid February 2008 release to other parts of the world.

How can you prevent yourself from becoming a victim?

The first thing to keep in mind when discussing anything online is to make sure you keep all of your vital information to yourself. Never give anyone in a chat room your real name, your home address, your date of birth, your real email, or your phone number. It's not something you need to provide the first time you "meet" somebody online.

If you are in a chat room and you feel like you're hitting it off, set up another time or form of communication. Tell them you've got to run, but ask them to send you an email through the dating service. CyberLover is designed to work over a chat format, but it's not capable of sending you an email.

If you're not using a dating service, make sure not to give your primary email address, but a secondary account you have set up with one of the free services like hotmail, yahoo, or gmail.

Most importantly, use your common sense. If it doesn't feel like the right thing to do, in most cases it isn't. You can only protect your vital information one time. Once it's compromised, there isn't much you can do.