Evaluating Grayware Characteristics and Risks

Table 4

Installation mechanisms employed by grayware species.

ID	Channel	Description	Sample patterns
1	Bundle with software	Independent utilities distributed with other software	Bundled with
2	Components of software	Implemented as components of other legitimate software	Component of, as part of
3	Drive-by download	Visit web sites or download pages containing grayware	Drive by
4	Dropped by malware	Spread by other grayware such as downloaders	Dropped by
5	Vulnerability exploits	Exploits vulnerabilities such as buffer overflow	Vulnerability, loophole
6	Instant messengers	Install via Instant messengers (IM) such as AOL and MSN	Instant messaging
7	Email and attachments	Embedded in emails and attachments to trick recipients	Email
8	Manually installation	Directly download from web sites or through FTP services	Manually install
9	Peer-to-peer	Transport in P2P applications such as Gnutella and KaZaA	Peer-to-peer, p2p
10	Network file shares	Trusted network share folders as propagation channels	Network share