Packers Try To Tackle Spyware

Even one of the National Football League's most storied franchises isn't immune to spyware.

The Green Bay Packers came down with an infection of the junk software that's become the bane of home and business PC users. Spyware secretly downloads itself onto machines, tracking users' movements, commandeering their Web browsers, or plastering screens with advertisements. One of the team's six IT managers spent at least one day a week cleaning spyware-infected PCs that were continually crashing, says Packers IT director Wayne Wichlacz. "It was causing a lot of help-desk calls," he says.

In September, the Packers called for help. The team installed anti-spyware software from Blue Coat Systems Inc. that makes PC security appliances. Blue Coat's ProxySG server manages and enforces spyware-security policies that inspect, filter, and block spyware installers. The ProxyAV appliance scans Web traffic for known spyware applications. Blue Coat also packages in spyware-cleaning software called SpySubtract, which can protect mobile users from getting infected.

Blue Coat's anti-spyware enhancements have "helped us move from firefight mode to become more proactive in our security," Wichlacz says. And he doesn't lose an IT worker for a day cleansing infected PCs.

The battle against spyware is escalating. The Federal Trade Commission last week made its first formal move against the software, filing suit in New Hampshire against an owner of two spyware companies. The FTC says he violated federal law by engaging in "unfair or deceptive" commerce. At an FTC workshop on spyware in April, Microsoft said nearly half of system failures reported by Windows users were attributable to spyware. And Dell said spyware is the No. 1 cause of complaints to its help desk.

It's a growing problem for IT departments. A recent scan of more than 1.1 million Internet-connected PCs by Internet service provider EarthLink Inc. and privacy and security vendor Webroot Software Inc. found an average of 25 spyware apps running on each PC.

Security software vendors have taken notice. Antivirus companies such as McAfee Inc. and Symantec Corp. have been incorporating spyware-blocking and -removal tools into their software during the past year. Blue Coat Systems is enhancing its Web-security appliances to block spyware infections.

"This has the ability to block spyware at the gateway, before it gets into the enterprise," says Rich Mogull, an analyst with market-research company Gartner.

For existing Blue Coat customers, the anti-spyware upgrade is free. Pricing for ProxySG starts at $3,695; ProxyAV starts at $5,495.

Meanwhile, Computer Associates recently struck a deal with Cisco Systems to become part of its Network Admission Control program. The Cisco initiative frisks computers before they can log on to networks to make sure their security software is up to date. Network Admission Control customers now can use CA's anti-spyware and antivirus software with Cisco products.