A Thesis Of The Nature Of Adware In Practice

[Notok]

This 39 page PDF by SANS gives a very good definition of many types of malware (not just adware), how they spread, and the underlying technical problems faced by the security community. It makes for a very good read, especially if you have any questions or uncertainties regarding the subject.
http://www.sans.org/rr/whitepapers/malicious/1649.php

[Rmus]

Interesting paper - academic fulfillment for his certification. (I glanced at the first few pages)

For myself, I would never dignify the work of scumbugs by raising it to the level of academic importance.

When I help someone set up a system and learn good computing habits, I never use terms like spyware, adware. Giving importance to those terms and their differences is useful for marketing and nothing more.

I know to avoid rotten food but I've never learned the names of the various bacteria involved.

[eyes-open]

It seemed fine. There's nothing new here (even this report is a year old) - but the information is accessible.

I don't get any feeling of admiration for the malware producers (that would be the party of the first party, hereafter known by Rmus as "scumbags" hehe ... ;) ). Only a recognition that they are becoming increasingly practised, while those we would look to for technical & legal remedies, don't appear to be able to co-ordinate nearly well enough.

There are also a couple of copy & pastes from interesting sources in there, which add to the picture he's painting of the ongoing battle for the control of our systems.

[ErikAlbert]

Notok,
Thanks for the link. As a total newbie in malware, I can learn something from that Thesis ... after translating 39 pages ;)