[breakaway]

If I have a picture or even a text document on my C drive, is it possible for the spyware to see the actual picture or read the actual document?

I was always under the impression that spyware only tracts behaviour like what programs you're using but not actually see what the user can see (especially if it's not uploaded on the internet)

[desinet1]

Not sure about that. Would like to know myself.

[Mr. Newton]

Spyware doesn't actually see what's on your computer,some types of spyware will send the data from certain files on your comp back to someone elses machine .If they want your passwords or banking data or whatever they want,other spyware just sends out spam.But in all cases the data has to be uploaded.They don't see your machine as you see it,but they can see your files once they have them.
That's a very short answer.

[breakaway]

Thanks for the response....but how can they take files?

[Mr. Newton]

By writing a program that gets installed on your computer when you open an attachment or download a file,& that program is coded or written in such a way that says to look for specific code on your machine & send it back to where ever the person who wrote the code wants it sent to.
You do the same thing if you open up your command line & type in instructions for your computer to perform,only you are not sending the information back to another computer or server.
That's a very simple explanation,but I hope you get the idea.
Anyone else have a simple answer that explains it ?

[hermes]

If you have inadvertently downloaded a remote connection agent it is possible that your desktop could be viewed or controlled remotely. If you left the PC in standby, they could connect remotely and steal files.

If someone runs a successful remote IP scan on a range of subnets online and chooses to scan for open ports, they will attempt to telnet or ssh to that port,crack the password and gain root access. That is what they call being owned.

If you have run anti-virus/spyware and a firewall, and there is nothing out of the ordinary, that is probably not happening, but is a fairly common threat.

[mrss]

In the worst of scenarios, a hacker can view your hard drive just like you look at it with explorer. If you had a hijacked webcam, they could even see you.

http://www.macworld.com/article/1359...ckjackers.html