Rule: Don’t download any software from the internet and install it on your PC, laptop or PDA.
When you are at work, your company should supply all the software you need to do your job. As internet junkies, we all love to download the latest cool gismos to make our work life more enjoyable. After all, what can be harmful about a search bar for my web browser, or a little ticker for monitoring my stocks? The problem is that all of this is uncontrolled software, and chances are that sooner or later you are going to get infected with some form of “spyware” or other malicious code.
Spyware is quickly becoming the biggest problem on corporate networks. Spyware, in general, means any software that collects information from your PC, without you knowing it, and then relays it back out over the internet to another location. At home, a spyware program can bring your PC to a near stand-still. In a corporation, it can generate a serious security problem for your network, transmitting all kinds of private data about your computer and the network it is on. This is bountiful information for hackers to get access to your corporate network.
Real World: In July 2005 Israeli police cracked a major industrial espionage crime ring that used spyware to collect confidential files from hundreds of organizations. Users within the various corporations had downloaded a free productivity tool from a vendor that imbedded the spyware within legitimate code. Thousands of files were downloaded before the spyware was discovered.