Spyware abuse includes domestic abuse says McAfee
On Thursday, the Anti-Spyware Coalition will meet in Washington. Included will be experts from McAfee, Google, and the Pew Internet & American Life project to discuss the latest in spyware trends. In addition to the well-known damage caused by spyware--hawking advertising, stealing passwords, and slowing down PCs--McAfee is calling attention to a little known aspect of spyware: domestic abuse.
"Using spyware for surveillance in cases of domestic abuse is a serious matter," says Anna Stepanov, who manages the Anti-Spyware program at McAfee Avert Labs. She's written a report titled Spyware: A Morphing Campaign (in PDF), which chronicles recent spyware trends including domestic abuse. "Monitoring a victim's online, cell phone, or general computing activity is of more value than ever in controlling or hurting a victim."
The National Network to End Domestic Violence offers these computer use tips to protect against such abuse.
As CNET's resident security expert, Robert Vamosi has been interviewed on the BBC, CNN, MSNBC, and other outlets to share his knowledge about the latest online threats and to offer advice on personal and corporate security. Listen to his podcast at securitybites.cnet.com or e-mail Robert with your questions and comments.
After I left him, I found out he was intercepting my emails, probably with a copy of everything I sent going to his work email address.
I followed my intuition on this and it turned out to be correct. So it does happen.
I also was suspicious of him having installed keystroke identification software on my PC, so I was sure to change all my passwords to my bank accounts etc., on my friends PC a few days before I left him.