Spyware is actually a form of malware through which cyber criminals seek to invade computer systems to collect user information that is absolutely personal or confidential in nature.
A kind of tracking software medium, spyware is a malicious program clandestinely introduced into the system to first watch the usage pattern and then slowly takeover partial control of the information setup, without giving the user even the tiniest of a hint.
Called a spybot in the Internet context, it is introduced into the computer either as a virus or in the form of a new program. It then begins to spy over the entire information bank and pass on the relevant ones to the unscrupulous originators of the program – the cyber criminals who manipulate the personal information so gathered for their own benefit.
Spyware does not possess the inherent quality to replicate – like the viruses and worms do. Unlike virus or worms, it also does not spread, directly.
