Law Case Settled Between CyberSpy Software And FTC

In 2008, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued 'CyberSpy Software' - a spyware vendor based in Florida - for marketing RemoteSpy, a keylogging program. The program was wholly undetectable. Now, it is after two years that a settlement has been reached in favor of FTC.

According to this settlement, CyberSpy may go on selling RemoteSpy, but it must adopt fresh preventive measures against the advertisement and misuse of the tool as a data-intercepting program on others' PCs.

Furthermore, CyberSpy must modify RemoteSpy for stopping sneaky installations, encrypt data transferred online; monitor its partners to ensure they abide by the order; and eliminate the software's legacy versions from PCs, as reported by PCWorld on June 3, 2010.

According to the papers presented in the court, CyberSpy trained its clients how the spyware could be camouflaged as a harmless image file in the form of an e-mail attachment.

Any e-mail recipient who opened the attachment reportedly had RemoteSpy downloaded and executed although he remained totally unaware. Subsequently, the spyware intercepted the user's keystrokes he hit on the infected PC; took screenshots of the images appeared on the screen; stole passwords and monitored the user website activities. Thereafter, when the spyware collected and organized the information, clients of RemoteSpy accessed the same via logging into the website CyberSpy maintained.

Indeed, several security software venders like Sunbelt Software have described RemoteSpy as a spyware program from the time it first appeared in 2006. The makers of this program promoted it as particularly suitable for parents and employers wishing to monitor the online activities of their children or employees. But suspicious spouses spying on their partners, stalkers or deceitful private eyes may find the technology handy.

For system administrators, spyware programs are a huge problem. During March 2010, a surgical assistant had to face a 3-year probation sentence and a payment of US$33,000 to recompense one Ohio hospital because spyware software, which he had dispatched to the Yahoo e-mail of an employee, got mistakenly loaded to a PC at the pediatric cardiac surgery department of the hospice.

Related article: Law Revamps Web Security After Denial Of Service Attack

» SPAMfighter News - 6/12/2010