We all know very well what malware is, a type of malicious software that aims to cause damage to our devices. Within malware in general we can find viruses, Trojans, rootkits and even ransomware, The latter is one of the most dangerous and where cybercriminals are focusing to cause as much damage as possible. Today we are going to explain what Grayware is, a type of software that is included in an intermediate place between malware and harmless software.

What is Grayware and types

Grayware is the name of programs that are potentially dangerous, these types of programs are usually located somewhere in between harmful software ( malware ) and harmless software. Malware is always specifically designed to cause damage to a device, but in the case of grayware, they are not always designed to cause damage but can be totally harmless. This type of software can range from totally benign to potentially dangerous, however this type of software is not as harmful as the general malware programs that we all know.

Unlike malware, this type of software can be completely legal in certain scenarios, but we must bear in mind that these types of programs can perfectly interrupt the proper functioning of the local network or the computer systems of any company. It is possible that if we perform an anti-malware scan on our computer, it detects this type of software as malware because it can be potentially dangerous, in fact, sometimes it is not marked as malware but it is marked as « potentially dangerous » and it is strongly recommended that it be completely removed from our system, with the aim of avoiding future security and privacy problems.

Currently there are several different types of grayware, specifically oriented to a specific task. Then you have all the details.

Spyware or spyware

Spyware is a very common type of software that allows an attacker to spy on a person or group of people. This type of software is specifically designed to track any activity that is done on the computer, be it web browsing, use of different programs and even be able to collect private information without the consent of the end user. This stolen private information can be used for blackmail or simply to add it to a database with private data and sell it on the dark web.

This spyware is usually installed on legitimate programs that need advertising to earn a low income. Although on many occasions it will notify us in the installation wizard, surely the end user has punctured everything to « next » without reading or looking at anything, and will have installed it giving their consent, but without knowing it at all. Generally this type of grayware is detected by the anti-malware or anti-spy software that we have installed, however, it may sometimes be undetectable, so we must be very careful when we are going to install any program on our PC.

Advertising or adware

Adware is another type of grayware, this type of software is not malicious as a general malware can be, but it is very annoying. This type of grayware consists of using pop-ups aggressively on our computer, it could also cause the web browser to open automatically and take us to a website that is advertising. The goal of adware is to advertise a company or service, with more or less success, however, these types of ads are usually quite dangerous, because they could take us to websites that infect us with malware in general our device.

Depending on the type of advertising that has been installed, they may use our IP address and web browser activity to tailor ads to our preferences, however, Generally this is not the case, but will open random advertising or the one that has been configured to us. Adware is usually installed on our computer when we download programs from unofficial sites, with the aim of monetizing that software download service.

Mobile or madware advertising

Madware is the adware on our smartphone or tablet, it is specifically oriented to this type of device. As with normal adware, use ads to monetize previously provided service. Madware is generally much more annoying than on a computer, because with the madware notifications could come to us telling us that our smartphone is infected and that it is recommended to install a specific antivirus or antimalware, which could just be malware for our smartphone and even a bank Trojan to steal our bank access credentials.

This type of grayware is generally device centered with the Android operating system, it is very rare to find this on iOS devices, however it can also exist, so you should take extreme precautions. If you see a pop-up ad on your mobile, you surely have a madware installed or have activated Chrome notifications from a site that could be malicious.

Now that you know what grayware is and the types that exist, we are going to teach you how to protect ourselves from it to keep our devices safe.

How to protect ourselves from grayware

Although grayware does not pose a direct risk as it does with malware, the truth is that this type of software can invade our privacy by stealing data, bother a lot while using the computer due to adware, and even bother while using the smartphone if we are infected by madware. Our recommendation is that you treat the grayware as if it were malware: remove it as soon as possible.

If you want to be protected against this type of software, you should take the following precautions to prevent the installation or infection of our PC:

-Do not download software outside the official website.
-Take a good look at the step-by-step installation wizard, to avoid installing spyware or adware.
-Do not use any type of crack or keygen, because they could have built-in spyware and even directly malware that infects our equipment.

If you have already been affected by a grayware, then you should remove the installation or infection as follows:

Perform a complete scan with your usual antivirus. If you use Windows 10 or Windows 11 you should know that their antivirus works really well, so it is likely that it will detect certain grayware directly as potentially dangerous software.
Download MalwareBytes Anti-Malware from the official website, install the software and perform a complete scan on your computer. This software is one of the best you can use to perform analysis on demand, and even to be continuously in operation.
Download other anti-spyware software to make sure our PC is clean, some highly recommended are SUPERAntiSpyware, Adaware Antivirus and also the free versions of the most popular antivirus.
Finally, once we have cleaned the grayware, we must verify that we have completely removed it, using the device normally and check that we do not have pop-ups.

Conclusions

Although at first the grayware may not seem dangerous, if our device is infected you will not like the consequences. In the case of having a spyware installed, as its name suggests, they could spy on our communications or what we do with our computer, in addition, they could also steal personal data from us and later sell it. In the case of adware and madware, it is more annoying than dangerous, since we will continually get pop-ups with targeted or non-oriented advertising, which could take us to websites that are dangerous and that could infect us with malware, so we should also be very careful and protect ourselves.

In our opinion, all the grayware should be treated as if it were a little harmful malware, but that we must remove it from our computer, smartphone and tablet as soon as possible, with the aim of being protected against spyware and that it is not annoying to use our devices.