Fighting malware and spam

The strange case of Judith C.

David Perry Trend Micro

  Corporate stream: Friday 7 October 2005, 12:00 - 12:40.

  download slides (PDF)

Throughout my experience in the computer virus industry, at least once per year a customer will come up with a seemingly urgent case where he or she has been damaged by malware. We do our best to investigate these claims, and usually come up with nothing. This time it's a little different. One Judith C. has approached me, claiming that her business is under attack from adware. Her small web-based business is ostensibly being robbed of it's customers by a coordinated attack of adware and spyware. She backs up her claim by faxing me a sheaf of documents, and by several telephone conversations. I agree to study her problem, but warn her that my investigation might not prove or disprove her allegations.

Are Judith C's charges true? Are the true victims of adware and spyware small business people, their very livelihood snatched from them by ruthless spyware providers? Or are these accusations merely the modern rorshach of a familiar story that can be modelled to explain a loss in revenue. Aren't we all really looking for the easy answer? Time, and study, will tell.

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