Court Slams Door on Sale Of Spyware

The Federal Trade Commission today had a US District Court issue a temporary restraining order halting the sale of RemoteSpy keylogger spyware.

According to the FTC's complaint, RemoteSpy spyware was sold to clients who would then secretly monitor unsuspecting consumers' computers. According to the FTC, the defendants provided RemoteSpy clients with detailed instructions explaining how to disguise the spyware as an innocuous file, such as a photo, attached to an email.

When consumer victims clicked on the disguised file, the keylogger spyware silently installed in the background without the victims' knowledge. This spyware recorded every keystroke typed on the victim's computer (including passwords); captured images of the computer screen; and recorded Web sites visited. To access the information gathered and organized by the spyware, RemoteSpy clients would log into a Web site maintained by the defendants.

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