Grayware

Grayware is Trend Micro's general classification for applications that have annoying, undesirable, or undisclosed behavior.

Grayware applications do not fall into any of the major threat (ie. Virus or Trojan horse) categories as they are subject to system functionality, as well as user debate.

Some items in the Grayware category have been linked to malicious activities, while others are used to provide users with targeted information in terms of product announcements.

Organizations dealing with sensitive information should be generally alarmed by the capability of any application with data gathering functionality.

The majority of grayware fall into the following classes:

• Adware
• Data Miners (Tracking Cookies)
• Dialers
• Hacking tools
• Joke programs
• Keyloggers
• Password cracking applications
• Remote Access Programs
• Spyware

Trend Micro recognizes that some users prefer to have tools to determine whether grayware are running on their systems, and thus, provides additional options to scan for and/or remove them.