The Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC) was formed in April by the Center for Democracy and Technology with the goal of finding solutions to aid in the fight against Spyware.

The ASC takes the place of the now defunct Consortium of Anti-Spyware Technology Vendors (Coast), which failed to produce many results after 16 months of existence.

	WEEKLY REPORTS Solutions, Prevention & Remedies Top 10 Threats

According to ASC documents released earlier this month, tracking your online activity for marketing research or financial information are not the only threats of Spyware. The threats often consume your computer's system resources, impacting the performance of previously installed software. According to a recent study by Earthlink, some type of Spyware is present on about 90 percent of all Internet-connected computers.

The ASC document contains explanations and definitions of the varying types of Spyware, safety tips and a glossary of terms. The coalition has invited the public to review and comment on the document by August 12, after which they will respond to comments, revise the document and release a final draft.

Membership of the ASC consists of anti-Spyware software vendors and consumer groups including America Online, Panda Software, Symantec and Yahoo.

Information, Protection and Prevention -- Anti-Spyware
• Anti-Spyware Coalition

• Earthlink Study of Spyware

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* Reading: Solutions, Prevention & Remedies
Additional summary information related to a specific type of solution or prevention that you should be considering. Depending upon the week, this section may have:
• Recent Windows security releases from Microsoft
• Recent updates to widely used anti-spyware programs
• Recent updates to widely used anti-virus programs
• Recent updates to other security programs & devices (ex: Firewalls, routers)
• Recent updates to various applications in wide use

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Read: Top Threats
These are viruses that are currently on the watch lists of major anti-virus software companies.

Name
What the threat is called. We use the name given each virus by Panda Software. Sometimes other anti-virus companies give the same threat a different name. Usually they use similar names.

Type
There are different characteristics associated with different types of threats.
• Virus - has the ability to replicate or infect computers or other programs
• Trojan Horse (or Trojan) - appear to be harmless programs when you get them. They unleash their payload when you double-click, open, or execute them.
• Phishing - a Web site or e-maill message posing as another company - usually one you know to fool you into giving the sender personal information.
• Worm - self replicates onto additional disks, computers or networks
• Spyware - installs on your system to collect information about your activity, preferences or interests
• Hoax - false messages sent by e-maill to mislead the recipient
• Backdoors - opens a security hole that allows outsiders to take control of your computer
• Dialer - uses your telephone to dial an outside number - sometimes a number that costs you money when dialed

Affects
Not all viruses affect all types of systems. Some, for example may affect only Windows 98 and 95, but not Windows XP or NT. Others affect all Windows systems, but not Macintosh. In this column, we show you the consumer systems that the threat is known to affect. We don't always include the servers that operate in your company's backroom.

Alert level
The level of awareness that anti-virus vendors suggest you need to have for each threat listed.
For each threat listed, we'll post a corresponding link here, so you can get more information to help you recognize, diagnose, prevent, and repair the problem.