The spyware it is a sneaky and insidious cyber threat that can affect a varied range of devices, from smartphones to computers, without the user realizing anything. It is malicious or malicious software – a form of malware – designed to infiltrate victims’ devices to collect confidential informationsuch as browsing history, keyboard keystrokes, or even sensitive data such as credit card numbers and passwords. Unlike other types of malware, spyware installs silently and remains active latent on your device without showing obvious signs, making it difficult to detect. It can be transmitted through compromised websites, apparently legitimate apps or infected attachments, and once installed it begins to record activities and send the collected data to the cyber criminal who created it or, in any case, to third parties. In this article we will explore how spyware works, the different types that exist, and how to defend yourself against this threat.
What are the main types of spyware and what they can do
They exist various types of spyware to watch out foreach of which has specific objectives and methods of action. One of the most common is theadwaresoftware that tracks your browsing history and Internet downloads to display targeted advertisements. This type of spyware may seem harmless, but it collects data about your online activity and often sells it to marketing companies. It’s not that harmless, is it? Adware is often included in free programs downloaded from the Internet, with the user paying for the use of the “free” software through an unwitting surrender of their privacy. Other types of spyware include i trojanmalware that masquerades as legitimate applications that, once installed, allows cyber criminals to access your device, and keyloggersmonitoring tools capable of recording every keystroke that occurs on the keyboard, thus stealing sensitive data such as passwords or private messages.
Contrary to what some may think, spyware is not just a problem for desktop computers: it can very well affect mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. This type of malware is able to infiltrate through unsafe apps or by downloading content from unofficial sources (for example APK files of “cracked” apps). Once active on a mobile device, spyware can have access to advanced features such as the cameraThe microphone and the GPSthus collecting particularly sensitive data and effectively transforming the controlled devices into surveillance tools, which can record calls, monitor geographical movements and capture images from the camera!
Spyware goes into action exploiting user vulnerabilities and behaviorslike theopening suspicious attachments or the software downloads from unverified sources. Some spyware can be installed through techniques called “drive-by download”which involve infecting the device as soon as the user visits a compromised web page.
How to avoid spyware
For protect yourself from spywareit is essential to take some preventative measures.
- Download software only from official and trustworthy sources: we particularly recommend that you do not download pirated software and do not watch streaming content on illegal sites. These, in addition to being morally wrong actions, also represent real “computer self-goals”, given that visiting sites that contain similar illegal material can lead to the installation of spyware without your knowledge.
- Use updated antivirus and enable anti-spyware tools: this is essential to identify and block potential threats “in the bud”. It is also advisable avoid interacting with suspicious pop-ups, open links from spam messages.
- Keep your software updated: this applies to the operating system, the browser and the applications, so that the latest security patches available, given that they can counter the action of cyber criminals who would like to sneak into your systems.
- Enable two-factor authentication or 2FA: this especially applies to more sensitive accounts such as bank ones. 2FA, in fact, requires not only the use of a username and password to access your accounts, but also a second verification, such as a code sent to your smartphone, which has the task of making access to criminals more difficult even in the in the event that they were in possession of their credentials.
- Do not download apps outside the official stores (such as Google Play Store and Apple App Store): this also means that you should not “unlock” your device Android with the root or yours iPhone with the jailbreakgiven that similar operations remove important security restrictions without which the device is more vulnerable to cyber attacks.
How to eliminate spyware
Do you have a strong suspicion that spyware is present on your computer? If so, know that you can eliminate spywareprovided you use the right “cyber weapons”.
To go into more detail, we first suggest that you do Disconnect the infected device from the Internet. Subsequently, check the list of installed applications on your computer or mobile device, and if any unwanted software appears, remove it immediately. After completing the uninstallationyou must also restart the system.
We also suggest that you run a full scan with a reputable antivirus programwhich will identify any suspicious software that has escaped your “investigations”, giving you the option to quarantine or delete it as a precaution. For a deeper scan, however, it would be better to use a antispyware(searching on Google “best antispyware for (your device’s operating system)”you can find various reliable solutions). When choosing the tool to rely on, we clearly recommend that you install it only from official sources, perhaps by first scanning the site from which you will download the software with tools of the caliber of VirusTotal.
If the methods listed so far don’t work, you might need to Access your device’s hard drive in safe mode and go and manually delete the folders belonging to the spyware.
