September 2007
Readers Digest
September 2007
In an article titled “Is Your Boss Spying on You? It's legal, it's happening and it can get you fired.” Readers' Digest writer Kim Zetter discusses how more and more employers are monitoring PCs to protect themselves against lawsuits such as sexual harassment and copyright-infringement, as well as to increase their security posture and employee productivity.
The article opens with the story of Ismael Rodriguez who is a network analyst for Copier Country, a small New York company that sells photocopiers. According to Zetter, “A few years ago, after a salesman took the firm's customer database when he left for a new job, Rodriguez installed a program called Spector Pro on most of the company's computers. The software, made by SpectorSoft, can track and block the websites a user tries to visit and log his or her every keystroke.
According to Rodriguez, “I can see screen shots of what they do in Yahoo!,” he says. “I can see what they're typing, whether it's résumés or business-related stuff. The program even keeps track of songs that employees download to their iPod. There's not anything these guys can get away with that I can't see.
March 2007
Good Housekeeping
March 2007
In its March 2007 article entitled “Do You Know Where Your Kids Are”, SpectorSoft’s remote Internet monitoring software called eBlaster was featured in Good Housekeeping Magazine.
Several parents who use eBlaster to monitor their children’s Internet activities are quoted in the article and refer to how eBlaster has alerted them to dangerous instant messages, web sites and postings of inappropriate pictures of their children online.
February 6, 2007
Laura Ingraham
National Radio
Cyber Bully expert/researcher Dr. Justin Patchin talks about the importance of using SpectorSoft software
Justin W. Patchin,
Ph.D. Department of Political Science
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
For more information about Dr. Patchin and his work regarding cyberbulling, please visit: http://www.cyberbullying.us/
December 13, 2006
PC World Steve Bass's Tips & Tweaks
By Steve Bass
SpectorSoft's Spector Pro costs $100 and I was stunned by how efficient it is at tracking everything--and I mean everything--a user does. It works in the background and unless you're really PC savvy, you won't even see it. Even if you do find it, you can't access the setup without a password.
The program recorded everything I did on the computer, and even took snapshots of the screen. Afterwards, I could review everything. Heck, I watched a video and Spector Pro recorded it, too--I was able to see the desktop and media player showing the video. There's even a tab that reports on MySpace activity; with all those kids, it should be useful.
Another way to use Spector Pro is to see what Web sites users were on, and to review their actions to learn how and when they might have picked up spyware. The setup also lets you block access in a number of ways, including by time, application, and Web sites.
October 2006
SmartMoney Office Spies
By Aleksandra Todorova
That shouldn't come as a surprise. Employees have come to expect that their company keeps track of the web sites they visit and the emails they send.
Internet monitoring doesn't end with going through email and a list of visited web sites. Now, thanks to software programs like SpectorSoft, employers can record practically everything employees do on their computers and watch it as if on videotape, says Jay Mellon, vice president at AtNetPlus, a Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio-based IT security consultancy.
It's a fairly common practice. More than a third (36%) of the companies surveyed by AMA, for example, said they monitor web activity by using keystroke-tracking software, which can also monitor the time spent at the keyboard. These companies not only know what you wrote in an email, but also how long it took you to write it. They can access it even if you never sent it.
June 5, 2006
People Magazine
MySpace Nation: The Controversy
An online playground for kids - an astounding 16 million have their own web pages - MySpace.com also attracts creeps and pervs
From sexual predators to cyber bullying, today's kids are faced with new dangers as they surf the web. People Magazine explores these dangers as well as addressing ways to protect your kids while they are online.
Internet Safety expert Parry Aftab says that it is imperative that parents know their child's MySpace password, and if the child won't volunteer it, to use SpectorSoft software to uncover the password.
June 2006
The Wall Street Journal
Remote Control: Parents Use Software To Track Kids' Online Activity From Work
By SUE SHELLENBARGER
Children's Internet use has become a major concern for working parents, says Rich Chaifetz, CEO of ComPsych, Chicago, an employee-assistance provider. More than one-fourth of parents cite worries about kids' spending too much time online as the top summer child-care fear, in a recent ComPsych survey of 677 working parents.
A growing number of parents are using consumer software to monitor their kids' home Internet use from work. Parents say they gain invaluable information about their children, plus the power to control what they do online.
Internet-filtering software that blocks email or Web sites by category or keyword has been around for a while. But newer programs reach beyond that to allow secret monitoring of a child's Web activities from a remote computer. Some send periodic emails with the actual text of a child's emails and instant messages, plus a list of URLs visited.
Using eBlaster revealed to Cathy Wagner, a New Jersey sales manager, that her 14-year-old son was talking online with a girl about a suicide pact. Later, her son claimed he was really just trying to dissuade his friend, Ms. Wagner says. She explained that he was getting in "way over your head." She and her husband informed a school counselor, who intervened. A year later, the girl is safe and her son is doing fine, she says.
Read the Full Article (subscription required)
November 20, 2005
ABC News - KTUL: Oklahoma
Software Allows Parents To Keep Up With Their Kids' Online Activity
The father you're about to meet doesn't want to divulge his identity. It's not because he's ashamed of what he has done. It's because his teenager still doesn't know a secret -- a $100 secret that he says probably saved his child's life.
"It's important to have an understanding of what your child is doing when they're sitting in their bedroom for hours on end, talking on the computer. Trust me, they're not just doing homework."
This father learned that just in time by monitoring his teenager's email, keystrokes, even instant messages.
"The most alarming things that I learned as a result of this technology were the history of drug and alcohol use dating back to pre-teen years that I had no idea were going on."
He found out through new technology called eBlaster. It's a stealth program that e-mails you everything your child does online. Armed with knowledge, he headed off problems and started some very difficult conversations.
By the way, his teenager is back on the right path. eBlaster opened communication with his child he never thought possible.
August, 2005
ABC News - 20/20
ABC News 20/20 features SpectorSoft's eBlaster remote monitoring software. Originally created so parents and employers could monitor Internet activity, eBlaster acts like a computer surveillance camera, printing out a report of a computer user's keystrokes, chat room visits and e-mails written.
July 2, 2005
Newsday
Tracking your Kids Online
With the right technology, parents can watch everything their kids are doing on the Internet - every keystroke they make, every Web site they visit and every chat room they enter.
Mom and Dad can also screen their kids' incoming and outgoing text messages, make sure they're not ditching school or falling behind, and tell where they've been and how fast they were going while tooling around in the family car.
But while the latest gadgets allow parents to track their kids from afar, should they even try to?
Absolutely, says Rebecca Hagelin. "Technology came along, and I don't think a lot of adults were prepared for it," says Hagelin, a mother of two sons, 17 and 16, and a daughter, 13, in Arlington, Va. "It's been abused a lot, but this (new technology) could be a good use in today's dangerous world to keep safeguards on your kids."
Hagelin says she uses an Internet filter to review when they're online and what sites they access - to protect them from pornography and predators. "It's allowed my children to enjoy all the benefits the latest technology has to offer them, and it's allowed me to protect them from the dangers of some of the new technology," she says. "It's a win-win."
June 21, 2004
NBC • 17 News - Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC
Watch Out For Online Predators During Summer Month
These days, buddies aren't just friends who kids play ball with. The average teenager chats with more than 100 people through Internet buddy lists — places where cyber predators also find friends.
"In a matter of seconds or minutes they can be having a conversation with somebody that may be a potential child predator," said Jason Ice, of the FBI's High-Tech Computer Crimes Task Force.
And conversation can lead to a meeting, which is why children should never give out personal information like an address, birth date or name online.
Parents can also enlist the help of some more advanced ways to police online activities, like using eBlaster -- software that records a child's instant messages, chat room conversations and e-mails, then reports the information to parents.
"Even if you put your computer in a main room, you have dishes to do when you get home from work. You can't stand there and watch exactly what your kids are doing," said Kasey Sellati, of SpectorSoft, a company that markets eBlaster.
June 1, 2004
Gannett News Service
Software helps parents track kids' Web activity
By Deborah Porterfield
eBlaster - rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
"The big question used to be: Do you know where your children are? In today’s tech-centered world, the more pressing question is 'Do you know what your children are doing online?'
Unfortunately, even the most diligent parents can’t always be there to see everything their children do online. But the all-knowing eBlaster can. Once you install SpectorSoft’s program on your child’s computer, it can record and e-mail you exact copies of all their e-mail, instant messages and chat conversations.
The easy-to-use program provides comprehensive, personalized reports. Because not all parents have the same concerns, eBlaster lets you choose what you want to see and when. For example, you can choose to receive hourly or daily e-mail reports of incoming and outgoing e-mail messages and both sides of chat conversations and instant messages. You also can have the software forward attachments.
If you need immediate feedback, you can set the program to instantly forward copies of all incoming and outgoing e-mails, chat conversations and instant messaging sessions. You also can have the program send an instant alert should a certain word or phrase you’ve deemed unacceptable be typed on the keyboard or appear in a message or chat conversation."
May 10, 2004
USA Today
TECH REVIEW - Software keeps tabs on computer use
By Deborah Porterfield
"Find out what the children are doing online with SpectorSoft's eBlaster software. Once you install the easy-to-use program on a computer, it'll record incoming and outgoing email messages, chat conversations and instant messages. You can have these reports emailed to you every hour, once a day or..."
July 9, 2003
Canada Computes
Lab Test: Stealth, smoke, and steel
By Dave Chappelle
"There are no signs anywhere that eBlaster is installed on a computer. It doesn't appear in the program files or uninstall software. Few users are aware of the existence of the Windows Registry; but we looked thoroughly and found nothing. It has to be in there somewhere, but eBlaster hides very well. Reports are sent to you with a bogus reply address, preventing a report from returning to the subject computer and possibly alerting the user.
Shouldn't your anti-virus program block an eBlaster installation? SpectorSoft says McAfee and Norton anti-virus programs won't stop even a remote installation of eBlaster, because the file is not a virus. Grisoft AVG was installed on our test system, yet eBlaster breezed right past it. Two separate spyware detection applications couldn't detect eBlaster."
May 9, 2003
InfoWorld
SpectorSoft Simplifies Snooping
Every word they type, every link they click, SpectorSoft Professional and eBlaster 3.0 will be watching.
By Curtis Franklin Jr.
"Being nosy can be good for business. Although workplace privacy has become a hot-button issue for many unions and employee-rights groups, there are many legitimate reasons for an organization to want to know what’s happening on its computers. From industrial espionage, to sabotage, and workplace harassment suits, it’s not hard to understand the strong financial incentives that may exist for keeping tabs on employees' workstations.
SpectorSoft offers a pair of products that allow an IT department to observe virtually all activity on individual workstations. Spector Professional Edition and e-Blaster 3.0 are separate solutions to a common problem. Each offers an inexpensive way to monitor the actions and data running through a computer’s keyboard and screen."
May 2003
Kick Start News
Review: eBlaster 3.0
By Jeff Matthews
Pros: eBlaster is a powerful, comparatively inexpensive package which allows you to not only record keystrokes but also monitor many things such as all web sites visited and all incoming and outgoing e-mail. eBlaster will always keep you notified at predetermined intervals about what is going on.
April 25, 2003
The Washington Times
Suspicious mates on e-mail trail
By Lara Naaman
"If all is fair in love and war, cyberspace is becoming a new battleground. People aren't using the Internet just to find love anymore; they're using it to catch wayward lovers.
With a little bit of creativity and, on occasion, some moderately priced software, suspicious partners can become their own private investigators or, more simply put, e-mail spies."
The Washington Times examines how Spector Pro and eBlaster are helping spouses take control of their relationships by learning the truth... "They find e-mails; they find an adulterous relationship. People are getting really good at searching where people have been on the Internet."
March 11, 2003
AM Canada
Cyber Spying On Your Teen
"Ever wonder what your teenager is doing online? New software allows you to monitor their email and Internet activities without their knowledge. Meet a mother and the teenage daughter she electronically spied on."
A SpectorSoft customer discusses how she uses Spector Pro to monitor her teenage daughters online activity.
February 12, 2003
The Wall Street Journal
For Some Married People, Internet Dating Has Draw
By JENNIFER SARANOW
January 14, 2003
NBC Today Show
Keeping Your Child Safe Online
Spectorsoft products eBlaster and Spector Pro are discussed on the Today Show as Internet Monitoring products that help parents protect their children online.
January 6, 2003
MSNBC
Workers' Web Habits Are No Secret
By MICHELLE SWAFFORD
"Your employer probably knows if you make a bid on eBay, check your bank account, book airline tickets, e-mail a friend or send instant messages to co-workers. They probably know how often and for how long you surf the Internet and what keys you type in Microsoft Word and other software programs.
That's right, employers are increasingly monitoring employees with a handful of "spyware" programs.
Vero Beach, Fla.-based SpectorSoft Corp. has two software programs - eBlaster and Spector Pro - available for companies to monitor employees or parents to monitor their children's computer activities.
Spector Pro records everything for viewing later while eBlaster tracks everything and then e-mails a report of the computer's activity to a designated person. Both programs can monitor e-mails, Internet use, instant messaging and word processing programs.
"It really gives you a very complete picture of what's going on because it's like you were sitting there," said Kasey Sellati, SpectorSoft's spokeswoman.
Sellati said SpectorSoft's customers use the software to make sure employees aren't wasting time, saying inappropriate things or giving out confidential information.
"Our goal overall is not to really block, but to arm people with the information about what's going on in the computer and to let people be able to monitor themselves," she said.
January 9, 2003
The Wall Street Journal
New Tools Let Parents Become
Keystroke-by-Keystroke Spys
by Michelle Higgins
"Public-relations executive Robbie Vorhaus arrives at his New York office, fires up the computer and opens one of his most important e-mails of the day: Not a client crisis or big new account — it is a report on what his eight-year-old son Connor has been doing online.
The report, which lands in Mr. Vorhaus's e-mail once a week, tells him everything he wants to know about his son's activities on the Web, including who he's been chatting with and what sites he visited. "It's kind of creepy," says Connor.
In the age-old battle between independence-seeking kids and Type A parents, the older generation is packing some new weapons. A slew of powerful new software tools are available, including some that make it possible for you to track online chats and instant messages practically in real time, even if you are in a different city or using a BlackBerry.
The result is a wave of clever products that enable parents to monitor more of what their kids are doing online. The latest version of SpectorSoft Corporations' eBlaster software, for instance, can capture a child's incoming and outgoing e-mails and can immediately forward some or all of the text to a parent."
September 2002
On Computers (Syndicated Technology Newspaper Column)
Spy, CounterSpy
By Bob Schwabach
"The latest snooping software from SpectorSoft is "eBlaster," a hidden program that not only watches every keystroke on someone else's computer but automatically records and forwards their email to the watcher.
SpectorSoft is one of a handful of companies that make what might be called surveillance software. The target market is business and the stated objective is for a manager to see what the employees actually do when they are at the company computers. Are they working or are they playing dungeons and dragons. (Lest you think this is too paranoid, it's worth noting that a study of Internet use by the U.S. Treasury Department found that over half of all Internet use by employees of the Internal Revenue Service was for personal, not job-related, reasons.)
Once installed, "eBlaster" records all keystrokes, emails (received and sent), chat room conversations, instant messaging and web sites visited. Within seconds it sends this information to an email address of your choosing. If you don't want to spend your time pouring over all this stuff — and who does? — an activity summary is sent once an hour or once a day."
August 29, 2002
MSNBC.com
Who’s spying on my Hotmail?
With new spyware, even your private Yahoo, Hotmail e-mails can be seen
by Bob Sullivan
Think using Yahoo or Hotmail e-mail at work protects you from your boss’ prying eyes? Think again. New spy software essentially lets employers or parents co-pilot virtually any kind of e-mail account, including private Web-based e-mail accounts like Yahoo and Hotmail. A new version of eBlaster spyware will secretly forward all e-mail coming and going through such Web-based accounts to a spy’s e-mail, allowing anyone to “ride-along” even the supposedly private e-mail.
January, 2002
SmartComputing
Whose Shoulder Are You Looking Over?
by Michael Sweet
SpectorSoft has two products for spying on your loved ones: Spector and eBlaster. You can use these products to monitor employees in a small business. These programs record all activity, such as keystrokes, Web sites visited, e-mails, instant messages, and chat room conversations, on the computer in which they’re installed. Spector takes screen shots of the image on the computer screen and stores them so you can view them later. You can adjust the interval between screen shots, which can be as frequent as once every second. Once you type the password, Spector is disabled so you can access the stored data.
December 17, 2001
TechTV.com
Review: SpectorSoft eBlaster
By Ray Weigel
If keeping an eye on things from a remote location is of paramount importance, SpectorSoft's eBlaster should be at the top of your list. This software goes into deep hiding on the computer on which it's installed. It secretly monitors such information as which programs have been running, how long they've been actively in use, and which keystrokes were typed. The biggest plus to this electronic snooping is that once a full report has been compiled, it's sent via email from the suspect computer without the user's knowledge.
November 26, 2001
Washingon Post
eBlaster, The V-Chip's Tougher Big Brother
By Laura Sessions Stepp
Now we can add one more weapon to our arsenal, a next generation of the software known as spyware. eBlaster, as it's called, enables parents to check the Web sites young Caitlin and Caleb visit, whom they talk to online and what they say — from any remote location. Worried at work — or on a business trip out of town — when your kid's at home after school? No problem. Once eBlaster is installed on a home computer, it records all Web sites visited, all applications launched, all keystrokes typed and sends an activity report to a specified e-mail address as frequently as every 30 minutes.
July 2, 2001
Time
Internet Insecurity
By Adam Cohen
What can you expect if someone puts SpectorSoft's Spector 2.2 on your computer? It will secretly take hundreds of snapshots an hour of every website, chat group and e-mail that appears on your screen, and store them so that the special someone who is spying on you can review them later. A new product, SpectorSoft's eBlaster, will send the spy detailed e-mail reports updating your computer activities as often as every 30 minutes. These products work in stealth mode, so the people being spied on are totally unaware.
March 19, 2001
Fortune
Top 10 Tech Trends to Bet On
By Eric Nee & Peter H. Lewis
The End of Privacy: A man in Memphis secretly installed a spyware program called Spector on his 13- year-old stepdaughter's personal computer last fall and discovered, by reading her private e-mail, that she was having sex with her 37-year-old schoolteacher.
March 17, 2001
NBC Nightly News
On March 17, NBC aired an article which showed various ways that parents keep track of where their children are and what they are up to.
The segment discussed how parents are using monitoring tools to find out exactly what their children are doing on the Internet. A parent who uses Spector talked about how he uses the software.
March 17-18, 2001
CNNdotCOM
"Is your computer being monitored?"
By Kristyn Martin
It's called snoopware and it allows snooping into someone's computer to monitor their every movement — including read their e-mail and watching their chat rooms sessions. http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/tools.snoopware/index.html
March 13, 2001
SmartMoney
Working: Spies Like Us
By Anne Kadet and Noah Rothbaum
Suspect that someone's been burrowing through your hard drive at night? Install Spector 2.1 ($69.95; www.spectorsoft.com) to find out for sure. http://www.smartmoney.com/consumer/index.cfm?story=spies
March 8, 2001
Family PC Tools That Tame the Net
By Samuel Greengard and Edward Mendelson
February 19, 2001
Maclean's
"Do You Know Who's Watching You?"
By Chris Wood with Brenda Branswell
It could be your boss, your government, your spouse, or a sexual creep. As technology explodes, the law can't keep up.
February 9, 2001 (Originally aired December 15, 2000)
TechTV - CyberCrimes Show
"Using Computers to Catch a Cheat "
If you suspected your spouse or significant other was cheating on you, what lengths would you go to learn the truth?
November 20, 2000
Business Week
"A Nightmare for E-Adulterers"
Featured in the e.biz section of Business Week.
November 6, 2000
Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal had a page one feature on various ways parents monitor their children's whereabouts and activities. Spector software was discussed as a way for parents to monitor their children's Internet activities.
October 4, 2000
Ricki Lake
"CYBERSEX ADDICTS.COM."
Featured on the syndicated television talk show Ricki Lake
(airing on Wednesday, October 4).
On today's "Ricki," family members confront loved ones they say are addicted to cybersex. A mother of four is accused of being online for more than 20 hours a day! Her son says her kids are being neglected because of her obsession with the web. Another guest is surprised to learn that his web room "chat" partner is only 17 years old! The girl's mother is less than pleased with her daughter's web friend, and both the mother and the daughter demand that he leave her alone! Ricki gets web friendly and tries to determine who is using the web for innocent fun, and who is an addict.
September 29, 2000
NewsWeek Online
"Suspicions Confirmed"
By Diane Anderson
Products: Corporate snooping software finds an unintended market— spouses in search of cheaters...
September 18, 2000
The Industry Standard
"Suspicious Minds"
By Diane Anderson
September 13, 2000
Los Angeles Times
"Big Brother Is Tapping Your Cheating eHeart"
By Libby Copeland
Featured on Page 2 of the Style section.
September 12, 2000
The Dr. Laura Show
"When is an Affair an Affair?"
Spector and Spectorsoft president Doug Fowler featured on the syndicated television talk show "Dr. Laura".
August 21, 2000
ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings
ABC Television Network
A Spector user is filmed talking about how she discovered that her husband was cheating on her.
August 9, 2000
Good Morning America
ABC Television Network
SpectorSoft user Greg Young talks about how he discovered his wife engaging in online affairs.
July 5, 2000
Boston Globe
"THE SPIES AMONG US ARE A KEYBOARD AWAY"
By Alex Pham
Feature Article on Cyber Cheating.
July 3, 2000
San Francisco Examiner
"Spector software lets parents, employers, spouses monitoreverything happening on a host computer."
By Alan T. Saracevic
June 22, 2000
New York Times
"Spy Software Puts Home PC's Under Surveillance"
By Peter Lewis
The New York Times features Spector in its weekly Technology column called "Circuits".
In this article, a woman who used Spector to prove that her husband was cheating attributed Spector to "saving her life".
"I have no sympathy for people who would try to claim that two wrongs don't make a right," said the woman in Nashville who spied on her husband. "Spector helped save my life. How dare anyone say to me that what I did was wrong? When you're searching for truth and your spouse is doing everything he can to cover up, you depend on programs like Spector."
