Is Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage Spyware?

As you know two class action lawsuits have been filed in US against Microsoft which alleges Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage Tool is a spyware. Is WGA really a spyware? Let’s take a look from different angles.

“WGA was indistinguishable from other seedy spyware firms in the Caribbean that steal data off your PC without proper permissions,” says Eric Howes, director of malware research at antispyware software maker Sunbelt Software. The firm does not currently classify WGA as spyware, but Howes says a change in status for WGA is under consideration. link

Microsoft acknowledges that WGA collects hardware and software data but maintains that the data is used only to verify that one copy of an OS has been registered on one computer.

What is concerning is that Microsoft’s use or abuse of your personal data from your computer is subject to their discretion and not yours.

The spyware concerns have led Firewall Leak Tester to release a program to remove Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage tool from your computer.

In an ironic twist security analysts have detected a new piece of malware / worm, W32.Cuebot-K, that appears and acts as Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage program to unsuspecting users. The genuine spyware spreads through AOL’s Instant Messenger program. After installation, the worm immediately tries to connect to two Web sites, possibly trying to download other bad(?) programs on the machine.

Cuebot-K can potentially disable other software, shut off the Windows firewall, download new malicious programs, perform basic DDOS (distributed denial of service) attacks, scan local files and spawn a command prompt, Sophos said.

Last week, Microsoft added an option that let users turn off warnings that their OS may be invalid and change the frequency with which WGA communicates with Microsoft servers.

Overall Microsoft faces a tough challenge (technically) trying to restrict illegal sale of its software as well as ensuring very low false positives and hence less dissatisfied customers. It will need to collect and analyse some data to ensure uniqueness of the copy. However it should be done only with full disclosure. Beyond that I don’t find much merit in the argument that Windows Genuine Advantage is a spyware.