Spyware – the New Cyber-Menace

[El Brenty]

Home Internet users are not nearly as safe online as they believe, with as many as 80 per cent of home PCs infected with spyware.

A recent investigation found one US user had more than 1,000 spyware programs secretly running on his sluggish computer when researchers examined it.

The US Government-backed study discovered most people had no firewall protection and outdated antivirus software – two factors that allowed the unwanted intrusions.

A recent survey by Internet security experts Entrust showed that 80 per cent of Internet users were worried about identity theft online – much of which is achieved by hackers using spyware programs.

The Internet has always had its share of risky neighbourhoods and dark alleys. But with increasingly sophisticated threats from hackers, viruses, spam emails and spyware, trouble is finding computer users no matter how cautiously they roam online.

Wendy Avino, an interior decorator, had 14 spyware programs on her laptop. "I don't go into funny chatrooms. I don't open funny mail," she said. "If it says 'hot girls' I delete it. So how does the stuff get in there?"

The study released by America Online and the National Cyber Security Alliance found that 77 per cent of 326 adults in 12 US states assured researchers in a telephone poll they were safe from online threats. Nearly as many people felt confident they were already protected specifically from viruses and hackers.

But when experts visited those same homes to examine computers, they found two-thirds of adults using antivirus software that had not been updated for at least seven days.

Two-thirds of the computer users were also not using any type of protective firewall program and spyware was found on the computers of 80 per cent of those in the study.

[Truggy]

I dont have a firewall, which i enable my windows one when im doing stuff, but other than that, i scan every 2 days for viruses...and i dont get popups

[pan-modo_pictures]

The first time I connected to the internet on my new comp, I get this s*** on my computer. Only because I still need to get my arsenal; Firefox, Spybot, CW SHredder and Adaware. They actually managed to restart my computer.