Spyware: Unacceptable Levels of PC Infection

Published: Friday, May 06, 2005 Online-Casinos.com

THE SPYWARE MENACE

New study shows unacceptable levels of private and business PC infection

Electricnews reports the disturbing news that spyware programs are present on 87 percent of corporate PCs and 88 percent of private PCs, in most cases without invitation or permission.

Spyware generates unwanted pop-up ads, hi-jacks homepages and redirects internet searches...and earns a cool US$ 2 billion per annum for their authors, says the story this week, quoting a new study from anti-spyware developer Webroot. The report looks at the impact of spyware, adware and unwanted software on consumers and enterprises.

According to the survey, 88 percent of consumer PCs and 87 percent of corporate PCs have illicitly installed spyware on their hard drives, including Trojans, system monitors, cookies and adware. These programs are used to gather data about the user, which can then be used for targeted advertising and can even be used to forward confidential personal information to spyware developers.

"People have become more aware of viruses and worms, but they haven't grasped the implications of spyware," said Conor Flynn, technical director of security firm Rits. "They would be uncomfortable if they understood the manipulation and tracking that spyware programs carry out."

The authors of the survey estimate that the spyware-related advertising market generates revenues of around US$ 2 billion per annum, which comes to around 25 percent of the US online advertising market, as reported by the Internet Advertising Bureau.

"A lot of the people who pay spyware companies for information come from the darker side of the web," said Flynn. "Many pornography and gambling sites use spyware to check click references and target consumers."

But others allege that many reputable companies also pay money to spyware firms. Ben Edelman, a spyware researcher in the US claims that companies such as American Express, Sprint PCS, Disney and Expedia also buy advertising through spyware firms.

The report also lists the most significant pieces of spyware and adware on the basis of detection rates and potential threat. CoolWebSearch, which has over 100 different variants and a reputation for resisting many anti-spyware programs, was dubbed the top threat in the study.

As we went to press an invitation to Webroot to expand on its findings had gone unanswered.