Busting the ghost in the machine

ABSTRACT

This article describes an attempt to infect two new Dell WindowsXP-SP2 PCs (named Grease and Grime) with spyware and examines the results of the spyware infections. Each PC carried Symantec Antivirus 8.1.0.125, Spyware Doctor 3.1 (Doc), Spybot Search and Destroy 1.3 (SSD), and Sandra 2005 software, but no inoculation options were active during the infection and examination processes. Table 1 illustrates the initial benchmark metrics from Sandra 2005 obtained from SI Software at www.sisoftware.net/.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.3 Network Operations

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.0 General

  D. Software
  D.4 OPERATING SYSTEMS
      D.4.6 Security and Protection