Antispyware

Almost all antispyware existing at the present moment works using the same scheme: a spy program is detected and then blocked or eliminated. Detecting viruses or spy software is the crucial step of the whole process – all the protection depends on whether the anti-spy software is able to detect as many spies as possible. A signature data base which all these products depend on, is actually the "list" of signatures – small pieces of spy programs' codes. Anti-virus or anti-spy program scan the system and compare its codes with those in signature bases. So, in this case only the spies signatures of which already are in the base will be detected and eventually "caught". As long as anti-spy software is regularly updated and the system doesn't come across some unknown spyware product, everything is all right.

The problem is that there is good deal of people capable of creating something brand-new spy, unknown to anti-spyware developers. The period of time when a new spy already exists, but the updates have not been released yet, is the very time when hackers make their biggest profits.

Another way is not to use signature bases as means of detecting spyware - like Anti-Keylogger and PrivacyKeyboard do. There are three basic advantages of such an approach. First, the product gets rid of its the least reliable part; second, updates are not crucial anymore; and last, but certainly not least – the product becomes capable of blocking the destructive activity of even unknown spyware.