SpectorSoft

Infobox_Company
company_name = SpectorSoft, Inc.
company_
company_type = Private Company (Google Finance: [http://finance.google.com/finance?cid=16068060 Profile Page] )
company_slogan = Automatically Record Everything They Do Online.
foundation = 1998
location = Vero Beach, Florida, USA
key_people = Doug Fowler (SpectorSoft President)
num_employees = 60
industry = Software
products = Computer-monitoring software
homepage = [http://www.spectorsoft.com/ http://www.spectorsoft.com]

SpectorSoft is a software manufacturer that develops and sells stealth computer surveillance tools and spywarecite news
title = eBlaster Remote Spyware
url = http://www.spector.com/remote-spyware.html
accessdate = 2007-05-22
quote = Spectorsoft refer to eBlaster as Spyware themselves ] .

History

The company was founded in 1998 by current President Doug Fowler [cite web
title = SPECTORSOFT CORPORATION
publisher = Florida Department of State - Division of Corporations
url = http://www.sunbiz.org/scripts/cordet.exe?action=DETFIL&inq_doc_number=P98000104383&inq_came_from=NAMFWD&cor_web_names_seq_number=0000&names_name_ind=N&names_cor_number=&names_name_seq=&names_name_ind=&names_comp_name=SPECTORSOFT&names_filing_type=,
accessdate = 2007-05-23 ] .

Products

Spector Pro [cite web
title = Spectorsoft Products
publisher = Spectorsoft
url = http://spectorsoft.com/products/
accessdate = 2007-05-23 ] —A monitoring application capable of recording virtually all activity on the computer it is installed on.

Spector CNE —Identical to Spector Pro, but includes features aimed at corporate use.

Spector 360 —Includes the features of Spector Pro and Spector CNE, but can create graphs and statistics from the recorded data.

eBlaster -Recording capabilities very similar to Spector Pro with the exception that it can email all activity to a remote location.

Spector for Macintosh - Records activity on Macintosh systems via snapshots, keystrokes, and web site logging.

Spector 2.2 - Identical to the Mac version, but works on Windows based operating systems.

Awards/Distinctions

Spector Pro was given the editors choice award in a 2002 review of six computer activity monitoring toolscite news
last = Glass
first = Brett
title = Watching You, Watching Me - Spector Pro reviewed by PC Magazine
publisher = PC Magazine
date = 2002-01-07
url = http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,244681,00.asp
accessdate = 2007-01-15
quote = Spector Pro - Editors Choice ... A descendant of the Netbus Trojan horse ] .In 2004, version 5.0 of Spector Pro was again given the editors choice award from a field four programs [cite news
last = Delaney
first = Laura
title = Monitoring Software- Reviewed by PC Magazine
publisher = PC Magazine
date = 2004-03-08
url = http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1619184,00.asp
accessdate = 2007-01-15 ] .In 2008 Spector 360 SR3 won Editors' Choice by PC Magazine [cite news
last = Sarrel
first = Matthew
title = Monitoring Software- Reviewed by PC Magazine
publisher = PC Magazine
date = 2008-06-17
url = http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2320454,00.asp
accessdate = 2008-06-15 ] .

In 2004, SpectorSoft was listed on the INC 500 as Americas 244^th fastest growing company [cite news
title = Inc 500 2004 (ranked 224)
publisher = Inc Magazine
date = 2004
url = http://www.inc.com/app/inc500/viewCompany.jsp?cmpId=2004226
accessdate = 2007-01-15 ] .The position slipped to 497^th in 2005. [cite news
title = Inc 500 2005 (ranked 497)
publisher = Inc Magazine
date = 2005
url = http://www.inc.com/app/inc500/viewCompany.jsp?cmpId=2005497
accessdate = 2007-01-15 ] . In 2008 SpectorSoft made the list of Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America at number 3673 [cite news
title = Inc 5000 2008 (ranked 3673)
publisher = Inc Magazine
date = 2008
url = http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2008/the-full-list.html
accessdate = 2008-09-15 ] .

Spectorsoft products have been mentioned in many well known media outlets, including ZDNET, PC/Computing, Time Magazine, CNN, NBC Nightly News, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal [cite news
title = Spectorsoft - Press Mentions
publisher = Spectorsoft
url = http://www.spectorsoft.com/press/pressmentions.html
accessdate = 2007-05-23 ] .

Netbus connection

Spectorsoft owns the former website of the Netbus hacker/cyber-crime tool [ cite web
url=http://www.whois.net/whois_new.cgi?d=netbus.org
title= Whois.net - netbus.org
accessdate=2007-04-11
quote=Registrant Name:Spectorsoft Corp. ] .There are sources that indicate that Spectorsoft's software is derived from Netbus [ cite web
url=http://www.shavlik.com/product_pdfs/Shavlik_NetChk_Spyware_White%20Paper-The_Spyware_Plague.pdf
title= The Spyware Plague: No Cure For The Enterprise pp6
publisher=Shavlik Technologies
accessdate=2007-04-11
quote=Netbus was then reincarnated as SpectorSoft, ... often referred to as ‘divorceware’ |format=PDF] . In 2002, Spectorsoft advertised on the Netbus website "Netbus Users: Upgrade to Spector Professional Edition today" [cite web
url=http://www.netbus.org/
title=Netbus
accessdate=2007-04-12
year=2002
publisher=Spectorsoft
archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20020328183109/http://www.netbus.org/
archivedate=2002-03-28
quote=Netbus Users: Upgrade to Spector Professional Edition today ] .

Users

Legal

Parents

Parents use Spectorsoft's monitoring software to check their under aged children's internet usecite web
url = http://www.spectorsoft.com/products/eBlaster_Windows/solutions.html
title = SpectorSoft - eBlaster for Windows - Solutions
accessdate = 2007-05-23
author = Spectorsoft
date= 2003-07-23 ] [cite news
last = Potter
first = Ned
title = Watching Your Kids Online
publisher = ABC News
date = 2006-07-24
url = http://blogs.abcnews.com/scienceandsociety/2006/07/watching_your_k.html
accessdate = 2007-01-15 ] . This could help prevent online predators from targeting the children. This is legal since minors have no legal right to privacy from their parents.

Employers

Employers may choose to monitor their employees using Spectorsoft's software to prevent theft of intellectual property, and to ensure employees are using their computers only in appropriate ways. This is legal, since employees will have signed a contract stating that their computer activity may be monitored when they were employed.

There are, however, still privacy concerns over things like personal email [cite news
last = Bill Wallace
first = Jamie Fenton
title = Analysis: Your PC could be watching you
publisher = CNN
date = 2000-11-15
url = http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/11/15/desktop.tracker.idg/index.html
accessdate = 2007-01-15 ] [cite web
url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/08/30/spyware_trojan_sends_hotmail/
title=Spyware Trojan sends Hotmail to your boss
author=Thomas C Greene
publisher=The Register
accessdate=2007-04-11 ]

Educators

Educators, School Administrators and School Districts are required to protect students from online predators (CIPA & FERPA). Most schools use Blocking and Filtering solutions which may block sites needed for research or not block new sites that have not yet been included in the filtering solution. Spector 360 works with Filters to provide an additional layer of protection. Spector 360 also helps keep students on-task by providing teachers and technology coordinators with reports and charts that show what web sites students visit and how long they spent on each. Keyword alerts let lab instructors or IT administrators see who may be violating a school's Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). [cite news
last = David
first = Kopf
title = Analysis: Illinois District Keeps an Eye on 'Net Abuse
publisher = THE Journal
date = 2007-11-15
url = http://www.thejournal.com/articles/21627/
accessdate = 2007-11-15 ]

Illegal

Some of Spectorsoft's tools, especially eBlaster are extremely easy to use for criminal activities, and there have been several convictions for such misuse. For example, one spouse who installed eBlaster on a partner's personal computer was charged with four felony counts, facing up to five years in prison and $19,000 in fines.cite web
url = http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/07/23/online_banking_in_sa/
title = ‘Online banking in SA was a time-bomb waiting to go off’
accessdate = 2007-04-10
author = John Leyden
date= 2003-07-23
publisher = The Register
archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20040623102521/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/07/23/online_banking_in_sa/
archivedate = 2004-06-23 ] cite web
url = http://www.courttv.com/archive/news/2001/0907/privacy_ctv.html
title=Private electronic surveillance raising legal, rights questions
accessdate = 2007-04-10
author = Matt Bean
date= 2001-09-07
publisher = Court TV
archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20031215015821/http://www.courttv.com/archive/news/2001/0907/privacy_ctv.html
archivedate=2003-12-15 ] .

Spouses

Spectorsoft has marketed its spy software to people wanting to catch their spouses cheating. However, in the face of criminal charges and negative publicity, Spectorsoft now claims that it no longer markets its products to spouses, although there is nothing to stop a spouse from using the products illegally [cite web
url=http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/081607-spouse.html?page=2
title=Spouse-vs.-spouse cyberspying dangerous, possibly illegal - Network World
accessdate=2007-10-23
year=2007
publisher=Network World
quote=Fowler says SpectorSoft, which makes consumer and business versions of its surveillance software, three years ago stopped marketing its products as spouse-spying tools. ] [cite news
last = Cohen
first = Adam
title = Internet Insecurity (page 6)
publisher = Time Magazine
date = 2001-07-02
url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1000225-6,00.html
accessdate = 2007-01-15 ] .

Thieves

Since Spectorsoft's software is specifically designed to be extremely difficult to detect and remove, the tools (especially eBlaster) can easily be used by thieves who wish to steal credit card information, banking information, and passwords. Installation of the software can occur without the user's knowledge or permission [ cite web
url=http://www.spectorsoft.com/products/eblaster_windows/help/v50/remoteinstall.html
title= Blaster Remote Installation Guide
publisher=Spectorsoft
accessdate=2007-05-23
quote=eBlaster installs itself silently without any indication to the computer user that the installation has taken place ] . Spectorsoft openly advertise that their tools will record all of a user's passwords [ cite web
url=http://www.netbus.org/email-passwords.html
title= Capture Their Email Passwords
publisher=Netbus.org - (Owned by Spectorsoft)
accessdate=2007-04-12
quote=Passwords from any email account will be recorded, ... and all other passwords ] .

There have been recorded cases of this happeningcite web
url = http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/07/23/online_banking_in_sa/
title = ‘Online banking in SA was a time-bomb waiting to go off’
accessdate = 2007-04-10
author = John Leyden
date= 2003-07-23
publisher = The Register
archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20040623102521/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/07/23/online_banking_in_sa/
archivedate = 2004-06-23 ] .

Spyware Classification

Spectorsoft markets their software as "Spyware", and it is listed as "critical" or "high risk" by several anti-virus/anti-spyware software vendors [cite web
url = http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2003-080811-1930-99
title = Symantec profile of eBlaster
accessdate = 2007-03-27 ] [cite web
url = http://www.spynomore.com/key-logger-eblaster-5-0.htm?search=eblaster
title = SpyNoMore profile of eBlaster 5.0
accessdate = 2007-03-27 ] cite web
url = http://www.ca.com/securityadvisor/pest/pest.aspx?id=55479
title = CA Anti-Spyware (formerly PestPatrol) profile of eBlaster
accessdate = 2008-09-16 ]

The software products utilise rootkits to avoid detection by users, actively combat by mutating and recreating filenames, registry keys.

See also

*Spyware
*Spy software
*Employee monitoring software
*Computer surveillance
*Keystroke logging
*Online predator

References

External links

* [http://www.spectorsoft.com SpectorSoft Website]
* [http://www.spectorcne.com/ Website for "Spector CNE" Product]
* [http://www.spector360.com/ Website for "Spector 360" Product]