Spyware. To most internet users, it's an annoyance they don't fully understand. To businesses, spyware represents additional costs as well as a security risk. Companies may incur costs as they seek to remove spyware from their employees' computers. Productivity can be affected by pop-up ads that slow computers, and keystroke-logging by spyware puts private information at risk.

A typical piece of spyware is designed in such a way that it starts up every time the computer starts up (using resources and reducing stability), and runs at all times, monitoring Internet usage and delivering targeted advertising to the affected computer. Even in environments that encrypt data, spyware remains a security threat because its potential for keystroke-logging components can capture input before it's ever encrypted.

Spyware also leads to spam. When spyware finds email addresses, it sends them back out over the Internet to be traded, shared or sold to spammers. Spam finds a user who clicks to see an advertised product, allowing spyware to be secretly downloaded as the advertisement is loaded. This creates an administrative nightmare for IT professionals, not to mention the legal implications that can arise as inappropriate content floods in-boxes.

Spyware makers are getting more and more sophisticated. Removing the file and even extracting it from the registry are sometimes not enough. A number of applications have been developed to help remove spyware and adware, but these applications are typically unable to remove all spyware and adware on their own. Cleaning infected computers one system at a time is a never ending task, and is much more costly than simply stopping the spyware at the gateway before it ever reaches your computers.

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Doug Caton,
Chief Information Officer, NHRA


We have found UIA capable of solving complex technical issues that much larger ISPs struggled to solve. We are pleased with UIA's professionalism and timely response to problems.

Scott Oakley,
Executive VP of Information Services, GAMC


UIA has provided firewall management for our company over the past four years with exemplary customer service. I would not ever consider changing service companies nor would I ever consider bringing the management of the system back in-house.

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