Anti-spyware trial

A trial of anti-spyware software will be initiated shortly by the university. Spyware software enters a computer to secretly gather information about the user and relay it to advertisers or other interested parties. Spyware can be transmitted as a software virus or as the result of installing a new program.

Spyware has only recently been recognised by mainstream IT professionals as one of the most dangerous technologies on the internet, bringing with it increased threat of identity theft and consumer fraud along with greater risk to the Monash network.

The ITS IT Security and Risk group has selected Spybot Search and Destroy as the application to test after investigating various anti-spyware applications.

To enable testing across the network a limited number of licences are being offered to faculty and business unit IT administrators, who will evaluate the following:

• Ease of deployment
• Ease of management and updates
• Ease of use (and subsequent training of other staff)
• Effectiveness of spyware detection capabilities
• Effectiveness of spyware removal capabilities
• Effectiveness of spyware prevention capabilities
• How well the software complements Sophos (the current anti-virus solution) in terms of coverage and compatibility.
• Overall software compatibility (with operating systems and other applications, especially core applications and services such as SAP, Callista, Novell, etc)

You can reduce the risk of the Monash network, being infected with spyware while at work by following the university's virus and spam recommendations.

Reducing the risk while using your computer at home can be obtained by following the guidelines.