Spyware assessment techniques

[Derek Nash <ddnash () gmail com>]

I am now frequently getting requests for spyware/grayware/adware
assessments as subcomponent of a larger security assessment. My
efforts up to this point have been a manual process of loading free
antispyware tools, scanning the host,  individually recording the
results, classifying the types of spyware encountered and reporting
the results.

Recently I have begun to consider including data from a web usage
analysis tool that has the ability to identify spyware downloads and
phone home attempts to augment these manual efforts. I am wondering
what others are doing in regards to spyware assessments and if anyone
is aware a spyware "network scanner" that would allow me to look at a
larger sampling of hosts on a network during these assessments.

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