Editing Adware (section)

== Malware ==
The term ''adware'' is frequently used to describe a form of [[malware]] (malicious software)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/keep-a-clean-machine/malware-and-botnets|title=Malware & Botnets|author=National Cyber Security Alliance|author-link=National Cyber Security Alliance|publisher=StaySafeOnline.org|quote=The terms 'spyware' and 'adware' apply to several different [malware] technologies...|access-date=4 December 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121213043120/http://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/keep-a-clean-machine/malware-and-botnets|archive-date=13 December 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.princeton.edu/itsecurity/basics/malicious-software/ |title=Viruses and other forms of malicious software |date=5 July 2012 |publisher=[[Princeton University]] Office of Information Technology |quote=malware also includes worms, spyware and adware. |access-date=4 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121224024932/http://www.princeton.edu/itsecurity/basics/malicious-software/ |archive-date=24 December 2012 }}</ref> which presents unwanted advertisements to the user of a computer.<ref name="AAA">{{cite news|url=http://www.spywareloop.com/news/adware|title=Adware in SpyWareLoop.com|author=Vincentas|date=11 July 2013|newspaper=Spyware Loop|access-date=27 July 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140323203234/http://www.spywareloop.com/news/adware|archive-date=23 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lavasoft.com/mylavasoft/securitycenter/spyware-glossary#Adware|title=Malware from A to Z|publisher=[[Lavasoft]]|quote=[Adware] delivers advertising content potentially in a manner or context that may be unexpected and unwanted by users.|access-date=4 December 2012}}</ref> The advertisements produced by adware are sometimes in the form of a [[Pop-up ad|pop-up]], sometimes in an "unclosable window" and sometimes injected into web pages.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.staysafeonline.org/data-privacy-day/glossary/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130320110430/http://staysafeonline.org/data-privacy-day/glossary/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 March 2013 |title=Data Privacy Day Glossary |author=National Cyber Security Alliance |author-link=National Cyber Security Alliance |publisher=StaySafeOnline.org |quote=Adware: type of malware that allows popup ads on a computer system, ultimately taking over a user's Internet browsing. |access-date=4 December 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Latest in Malware: eFast Browser Attacks with False Google Chrome, Traps Users with Adware |url=https://baymcp.com/latest-in-malware-efast-browser-attacks-with-false-google-chrome-traps-users-with-adware/ |website=Bay Computing |access-date=11 September 2021 |date=30 March 2017}}</ref>

When the term is used in this way, the severity of its implication varies. While some sources rate adware only as an "irritant",<ref>{{cite web|url=https://support.rm.com/TechnicalArticle.asp?cref=TEC276510|title=Spyware, Adware and Malware&nbsp;— Advice for networks and network users|publisher=[[RM Education]]|access-date=4 December 2012|quote=[Adware] tend[s] to be more of an irritant than do actual damage to your system, but [is] an unwanted presence nonetheless.}}</ref> others classify it as an "online threat"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mcafee.com/us/about/news/2008/20080916_120000_y.aspx |title=McAfee, Inc. Names Most Dangerous Celebrities in Cyberspace |publisher=[[McAfee]] |quote=online threats, such as spyware, spam, phishing, adware, viruses and other malware... |access-date=4 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130604000640/http://www.mcafee.com/us/about/news/2008/20080916_120000_y.aspx |archive-date=4 June 2013 }} [https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&refer=conews&tkr=MFE:US&sid=af3z.yT5vNW8 Copy] available at Bloomberg.</ref> or even rate it as seriously as [[computer virus]]es and [[Trojan horse (computing)|trojans]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/spyware/040318assocofsharewareproff.pdf|title=Spyware, Adware, Malware, Thief: Creating Business Income from Denial of Service and Fraud|last=Stern|first=Jerry|work=ASPects, Newsletter of the Association of Shareware Professionals|publisher=[[Association of Software Professionals]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120917022453/http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/spyware/040318assocofsharewareproff.pdf|archive-date=17 September 2012|quote=Adware has become a bad word, linked to spyware and privacy violations by everyone except the publishers of the products... [it was] a good thing ten or fifteen years ago, and [is] bad now... [t]he lines for adware are even being blended into virus and trojan territory.}}</ref> The precise definition of the term in this context also varies.{{efn|A workshop held by the [[Federal Trade Commission]] in 2005 asked representatives of the computer, electronic advertising and anti-spyware product industries, as well as representatives of trade associations, government agencies, consumer and privacy advocacy groups to define adware and its relation to spyware; there was no clear consensus.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ookz_2ONmwgC|title=Spyware Workshop: Monitoring Software on Your Personal Computer: Spyware, Adware and Other Software|publisher=[[Federal Trade Commission]]|date=March 2005|page=2|isbn=9781428952577}}</ref>}} Adware that observes the computer user's activities without their consent and reports it to the software's author is called [[spyware]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fo2a7YtU1GUC|title=Internet and the Law: Technology, Society, and Compromises|last=Schwabach|first=Aaron|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|year=2005|isbn=978-1-85109-731-9|page=10}}</ref> Adware may collect the personal information of the user, causing privacy concerns.<ref>Urban, Tobias, Dennis Tatang, Thorsten Holz, Norbert Pohlmann. 2019. “Analyzing leakage of personal information by malware”. Journal of Computer Security 27(4): 459-481.</ref> Most adware operates legally and some adware manufacturers have even sued antivirus companies for blocking adware.<ref name=vonteera/>

Programs have been developed to detect, quarantine and remove advertisement-displaying malware, including [[Ad-Aware]], [[Malwarebytes (software)|Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware]], [[Spyware Doctor]] and [[Spybot – Search & Destroy]]. In addition, almost all commercial [[antivirus software]] currently detect adware and spyware, or offer a separate detection module.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/security/expert/honeycutt_spyware.mspx|title=How to protect your computer from Spyware and Adware|last=Honeycutt|first=Jerry|date=20 April 2004|work=Microsoft.com|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060207042601/http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/security/expert/honeycutt_spyware.mspx|archive-date=7 February 2006}}</ref>

A new wrinkle is adware that disables anti-malware and virus protection; technical remedies are available.<ref name="vonteera">{{cite web|url=https://finance.yahoo.com/amphtml/news/latest-adware-disables-antivirus-software-152920421.html|title=Latest adware disables antivirus software|last1=Casey|first1=Henry T.|author-link1=Henry T. Casey|date=25 November 2015|work=Tom's Guide|publisher=[[Yahoo.com]]|access-date=25 November 2015}}</ref>

Adware has also been discovered in certain low-cost [[Android (operating system)|Android]] devices, particularly those made by small Chinese firms running on [[Allwinner Technology|Allwinner]] [[System on a chip|systems-on-chip]]. There are even cases where adware code is embedded deep into files stored on the system and boot partitions, to which removal involves extensive (and complex) modifications to the [[firmware]].<ref name="CMtrojan">{{cite web|url=https://www.cmcm.com/blog/en/security/2015-11-09/838.html|title=Decompile: Technical analysis of the Trojan|date=9 November 2015|publisher=[[Cheetah Mobile]]|access-date=7 December 2015|archive-date=27 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161227223633/https://www.cmcm.com/blog/en/security/2015-11-09/838.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In recent years, [[Machine learning|machine-learning]] based systems have been implemented to detect malicious adware on [[Android (operating system)|Android]] devices by examining features in the flow of network traffic.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alani |first=Mohammed |date=2022 |title=AdStop: Efficient flow-based mobile adware detection using machine learning |journal=Computers & Security |volume=117 |pages=102718|doi=10.1016/j.cose.2022.102718 |doi-access=free }}</ref>