DOD offers free anti-spyware for personal use

The Defense Information a whole s Agency (DISA) has licensed unrestrained anti-spyware software for all management employees and armed forces personnel for use upon personal computer systems.

According to the Federal Trade Commission's Web site at wwwftcgov Spyware is software that monitors or directions the use of your computer It could cast pop-up ads, redirect browsers to certain Web sites, or smooth record your keystrokes. A pop-up ad could plane try to trick someone into typing in bank account information, leading to identity theft.

Users may also be able to achieve the software through their respective Automated Data Processing (ADP) offices.

"ADP can reduce to ashes the software to a CD for the user to take home" said Intelligence Specialist 1st Class (SW) Eric Rucker an information security officer for Navy Computer Defense Operations Command (NCDOC). "Once the software is downloaded at domicile it will automatically update periodically. With the amount of nation that use e-mail and zip drives to bring work domicile and back, the risk of bringing spyware to work is a great deal of greater, and that could create a weakness that may exploit DOD computers"

Steve Saunders, a Network Security Analysts for the NCDOC, said caution should be exercised when visiting Web sites if pop-up start appearing, or if a users' computer starts showing constant or required askings to install browser components and other applications.

"Any tender for free software, or 'upgrades' through big names is another thing to watch without for," Saunders said. "The best thing to do is to advance to a company's registered Web site to earn the legitimate downloads available."

"Professional analysts have set that survival time of a brand of recent origin computer, just connected to the Internet, is 18 minutes," added Saunders. "Out of 6 trillion IP addresses on the outside there, that is like a blink of an eye"

To download the independent anti-spyware software, go to the DISA Web site at https://iase.disa.mil/sdep, or the Navy's Information Assurance Web site at https://infosec.navy.mil. At the INFOSEC site, click upon the COMPUSEC tools tab and list down to the anti-spyware link, next to the first from the top. The software can then be saved a local hard drive for writing upon a CD-ROM or other portable media for dwelling use. Users must be upon a ".mil" workstation to download the software.

For more information about spyware and other computer security threats, proceed to https://infosec.navy.mil, or call the NCDOC 24/7 hotline at 1-888-NAVCDOC.

Story by the agency of MC2(SW/AW) Jennifer Goulart, public affairs office, Naval Network Warfare Command.

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