August 2005 Table of Contents | Communications of the ACM

Home → Magazine Archive → August 2005 (Vol. 48, No. 8)

DEPARTMENT: Editorial pointers

Editorial Pointers

Diane Crawford

Page 5

DEPARTMENT: News track

News Track

CACM Staff

Pages 9-10

DEPARTMENT: Forum

Forum

Pages 11-13

COLUMN: Practical programmer

'Silver Bullet' Milestones in Software History

In this second installment of a three-part series, the succession of interconnected creative milestones is traced.

Robert L. Glass

Pages 15-18

DEPARTMENT: Hot links

Top 10 Downloads from ACM's Digital Library

Pages 19-20

COLUMN: Digital village

WiFi Attack Vectors

The security risks of WiFi connectivity have been established---the reasons for these risks of intrusion are not as well understood.

Hal Berghel, Jacob Uecker

Pages 21-28

DEPARTMENT: President's letter

Does ACM Support Matter to Conferences or Journals?

ACM is one of many organizations that sponsors IT conferences and journals. So, why use ACM?

David A. Patterson

Pages 29-30

COLUMN: Viewpoint

Is the Thrill Gone?

Computer science is nothing less than a new way of thinking; explaining it to the wider world is critical to the future of the field.

Sanjeev Arora, Bernard Chazelle

Pages 31-33

SPECIAL ISSUE: Spyware

Introduction

Anyone who has ever dealt with spyware knows the irritation of lost bandwidth, the frustration of commandeered machine processor cycles, the innumerable pop-up ads and spam trails that result from an infestation. It is indeed …

Thomas F. Stafford

Pages 34-36

Spyware Was Inevitable

That which begins as minor nuisances and curiosities enabled by the subversion of new technological capabilities has always evolved into invasive problems once someone has found a way to profit from their application.

Steve Gibson

Pages 37-39

Why Spyware Poses Multiple Threats to Security

Spyware is becoming a relentless onslaught from those seeking to capture and use private information for their own ends. Spyware is annoying and negatively impacts the computing experience. Even worse, there are real and significant …

Roger Thompson

Pages 41-43

What Do Consumers Really Know About Spyware?

Technology has revolutionized information collection and distribution to the point where marketers have expanded and implemented new technologies to enable efficient consumer information acquisition. Such sophisticated data collection …

Xiaoni Zhang

Pages 44-48

Why Do People Hate Spyware?

Few people or corporations believe spyware is beneficial to the computing experience, but this issue has not been well studied [6]. This assertion is based on the trade press and countless Internet sites providing numerous articles …

Lee A. Freeman, Andrew Urbaczewski

Pages 50-53

The Deceptive Behaviors that Offend US Most About Spyware

Before effective legislation against spyware can be drawn, lawmakers and vendors must understand what users find most deceptive and offensive about this stealth software.

Neveen Farag Awad, Kristina Fitzgerald

Pages 55-60

Is Spyware an Internet Nuisance or Public Menace?

Recent media attention to spyware [2, 5, 7, 8] has brought to light the blunt intrusion into individual privacy and the uncertain hidden cost of free access to Internet sites, along with freeware and shareware. Most spyware programs …

Qing Hu, Tamara Dinev

Pages 61-66

Spyware: A Little Knowledge Is a Wonderful Thing

With the increased dependence on networks and the near ubiquitous availability of the Internet, there is a new paradigm in place for the proliferation of spyware, viruses, and other malware. In fact, much attention has been given …

Mark B. Schmidt, Kirk P. Arnett

Pages 67-70

Investigating Factors Affecting the Adoption of Anti-Spyware Systems

Spyware is the latest epidemic security threat for Internet users. There are various types of spyware programs (see Table 1) creating serious problems such as copying and sending personal information, consuming CPU power, reducing …

Younghwa Lee, Kenneth A. Kozar

Pages 72-77

A Framework For Spyware Assessment

One of the most challenging problems confronting the IT community is responding to the threat of spyware. Recent research, legislative actions, and policy changes have been hastened to counter spyware's threat to the privacy …

Merrill Warkentin, Xin Luo, Gary F. Templeton

Pages 79-84

Web Browsing and Spyware Intrusion

Spyware poses serious privacy and security issues to users of e-commerce and m-commerce [3, 5, 8]. Microsoft claims that half of all computer crashes reported by its customers were caused by spyware and its equivalents. Spyware …

Sudhindra Shukla, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah

Pages 85-90

Busting the Ghost in the Machine

This article describes an attempt to infect two new Dell WindowsXP-SP2 PCs (named Grease and Grime) with spyware and examines the results of the spyware infections. Each PC carried Symantec Antivirus 8.1.0.125, Spyware Doctor …

Kirk P. Arnett, Mark B. Schmidt

Pages 92-95

Spyware: A View from the (Online) Street

There are indications of late that the use of anti-spyware software is on the rise, with more than 100 million Internet users downloading Lavasoft's free anti-spyware software [2]. Some big-name companies are also beginning to …

Robin Poston, Thomas F. Stafford, Amy Hennington

Pages 96-99

Auto-ID: Managing Anything, Anywhere, Anytime in the Supply Chain

Tagging every item in a supply chain promises to help send the right product to the right destination at the right time, reducing the cost of operations and transportation and minimizing distribution lead times.

Indranil Bose, Raktim Pal

Pages 100-106

Competitor Analysis and its Defenses in the E-Marketplace

A firm's presence on the Internet opens a valuable channel for its competitors to collect and analyze its business information---to the firm's competitive disadvantage---unless it devises a defensive strategy.

Yihua Philip Sheng, Peter P. Mykytyn, Charles R. Litecky

Pages 107-112

Emerging Information Technologies: Developing a Timely IT Strategy

A model for quickly sifting through emerging technologies to find the best organizational fit.

Casey G. Cegielski, Brian J. Reithel, Carl M. Rebman

Pages 113-117

Software as Art

Encouraging a greater appreciation of the interplay between software and fine art.

Gregory W. Bond

Pages 118-124

Sharing Research in the 21st Century: Borrowing a Page from Open Source Software

Donald E. Hardaway

Pages 125-128

Why the Software Industry Needs a Good Ghostbuster

Certification based on a generally accepted body of knowledge is needed for clients, as well as the general public, to trust software professionals and their work.

Jeanette Nasem Morgan

Pages 129-133

COLUMN: Technical opinion

How -niversity Professors Teach Project Management For Information Systems

Determining where project management education fits into the overall curriculum.

Harry L. Reif, Michel Mitri

Pages 134-136

COLUMN: Inside risks

Disability-Related Risks

Peter G. Neumann, Michael D. Byrne

Page 144

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