Adware: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}

The software may generate two types of revenue: one is for the display of the advertisement and another on a "[[pay-per-click]]" basis, if the user clicks on the advertisement. Some advertisements also act as [[spyware]],<ref name="FTC-REPORT-2005">FTC Report  (2005). "[http://www.ftc.gov/os/2005/03/050307spywarerpt.pdf]"</ref> collecting and reporting data about the user, to be sold or used for [[targeted advertising]] or [[Profiling (information science)|user profiling]]. The software may implement advertisements in a variety of ways, including a static box display, a banner display, a full screen, a [[video]], a [[pop-up ad]] or in some other form. All forms of advertising carry [[Criticism of advertising|health, ethical, privacy and security risks]] for users.

}}</ref> i.e., a form of [[malware]]. Some developers offer software free of charge and rely on advertising revenue to recoup their expenses and generate income. Some offer a version without advertising, for a fee.

In legitimate [[software]], the advertising functions are integrated into or bundled with the program. Adware is usually seen by the developer as a way to recover development costs and generate revenue. In some cases, the developer may provide the software to the user free of charge or at a reduced price. The income derived from presenting advertisements to the user may allow or motivate the developer to continue to develop, maintain and upgrade the software product.<ref name="zdnetfeature">{{cite news|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/feature-ad-supported-software/|title=Feature: Ad-supported software|first=David|last=Braue|date=4 September 2008|work=[[ZDNet]]|access-date=4 December 2012}}</ref> The use of advertising-supported software in business is becoming increasingly popular, with a third of [[information technology|IT]] and business executives in a 2007 survey by [[McKinsey & Company]] planning to be using ad-funded software within the following two years.<ref name="informationweek">{{cite news|url=http://www.informationweek.com/businesses-warm-to-no-cost-ad-supported-software-/d/d-id/1054803|title=Businesses Warm To No-Cost, Ad-Supported Software|last=Hayes Weier|first=Mary|date=5 May 2007|work=[[Information Week]]|access-date=4 December 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808025452/http://www.informationweek.com/businesses-warm-to-no-cost-ad-supported-software-/d/d-id/1054803|archive-date=8 August 2016}}</ref> Advertisement-funded software is also one of the [[business models for open-source software]].

== Malware ==

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/>

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>

== See also ==