Scaremongering over Spyware?

Dynamoo writes "The BBC is reporting that PCs in the UK are infected with over 20 pieces of spyware on average. A frightening statistic, if it is to be believed. In fact, the figures come from Webroot - an anti-spyware firm with a commercial interest in playing up the spyware threat." From the article: "In Poland, 867 of every 1,000 domestic PCs have been infected by trojans, unsolicited programs that can allow remote users to control the machine. It is this international reach that concerns those in authority trying to combat the spread of spyware. "

Comments

True number or not, way too common..

[luvirini]

Regardless of how mch the actual numbers given there are over the top, the actual numbers of PCs having spyware infections is way too many.

Slowly people that I know start to have things in order as I have managed to make them change habits, install tools and such, but not everyone has such aquintances, and even then, the number of times I have cleaned spyware from someones computer is way high...

Re:True number or not, way too common..

[Xerp]

This isn't just down to people's habits - poor quality software is also to blame. Microsoft Windows PCs are top of the spyware tree. Even with changing "habits" and installing a list of "security" bolt-ons as long as your arm, the poor quality of the Microsoft software is still going to let you down. Both at work and in the home, even the most well looked after Microsoft Windows machine is going to get infected. Take for example by PHB's machine. Microsoft Windows XP SP2, Microsoft anti-spyware, McAfee Anti-virus, fully patched.. last scan with Spybot S&D - 81 red entries. Sure, 56 were just cookies but also in the list was some really nasty malware. Then there is good old mum. Just browing using a 56k modem. Bless. Windows 2000 - can't patch as she only has a modem. Thing stopped working. It was so hosed the only way to recover was to use Knoppix to copy her files off. Of course, as it was my mum, I had full control over the situation. I upgraded her to Linux (Slackware 10, to be exact) - its now been 8 months and her PC is still spyware free. Not a single virus. Not one single problem. Mum isn't a techie and she loves not having to worry about "spybot" "mcafee" "norton" and a load of other things that mean nothing to her. She tells her friends how she is using Linux at home and how good it is. What amazed me, is that her friends had even heard of Linux. I mean, they're all over 60. Needless to say, they all want it too now. Sure, Linux on the desktop at work = a lot of corporate hassle. Linux on the desktop at home for non technical users who just want to browse, email and message = 100% perfect - and spyware free.

Re:True number or not, way too common..

[Se7enLC]

The numbers don't surprise me too much. The typical response from people I interact with seems to be "My computer is running slow, acting strangely, crashing. Maybe I'll look into fixing it at some point". People just don't have the urgency anymore as virii/spyware aren't targetting their own machine anymore.

It's not like the good old days when a virus just trashed your machine, so you had to act immediately. Now it just lies in waiting and uses your machine to launch attacks on others and collects personal information silently. People just don't care enough to fix spyware until it directly prevents them from using their precious web browser, email, and instant messenger.

Seems like a statisticians nightmare

[antifoidulus]

How can you really tell how many people are infected with spyware? It's not a question like, "do you support proposition 84?" where you can call people at random or talk to them on the street. I would be afraid of the guy who came to my door asking if he could test whether or not my computer was infected with spyware(doubly so since I use a mac :P), and if you just ask people, 9/10 they won't know but will probably make up a answer anyway. They could use the numbers sent to them by customers, but that isn't random at all. Their customers are much more likely to have spyware infections or else they wouldn't be seeking their help.
So yeah, it's a number, but not a very convincing one...

And, typical of scaremongering tactics...

[Caspian]

...they are (probably deliberately) confusing the terms "trojan" and "spyware". Is it any wonder that the average user doesn't know the difference between a "virus", "spyware" or "adware", doesn't know the umbrella term "malware", and thinks that any antivirus program is all they need to stay safe?

To this day, most end-users I talk to think that "spyware" is something good, since they hear people talking about "Spybot", which they think is "a program that gets rid of the viruses".

When will we get some REAL end-user education in this topic? Public schools have Sex Ed classes where they teach you how to reduce your risk of getting HIV and the Clap... how about Computer Safety classes where they teach you how to reduce your risk of getting viruses or spyware?

Re:And, typical of scaremongering tactics...

[luvirini]

The problem is, with the threat environments changing so fast, schools are definitely not the best place to teach this, as schools should give lifelong skills.

Anything they would teach about spyware today could very well be moot in 5 years if most people use secure systems.

More proper thing would likely be going the route of licencing.. that is in order to allow use of a computer that is connected, you need a computer lisence, the same way you need a drivers license to drive a car on roads. That lisence could then be limited in duration and you would need to get updated on newest things, from behavior to threaths.

Ofcourse that would bring many other problems in itself...

Not necessarily that much scaremongering

[DagdaMor]

When I help out none-techies with their crippled system, they often have in excess of 100 pieces of various malware. I can well believe as an average of the uk that 21 would not be a too unreasonable figure.

Education is key

[gihan_ripper]

Education is the real key to computer protection, not the purchase of spyware removal tools.

I've only ever had one piece of malware, which was ten years ago (the Tai Pei virus). In the meantime, I've learned good computer habits. These include being cautious about downloading and installing software, using the free firewall which comes with Windows XP, and employing the Mozilla range of browsers / email clients.

If users don't learn to be cautious when using a computer, they're going to run afoul of phishers, which will be much more of an incovenience that a bit of adware.

The aweful truth

[Opportunist]

It doesn't matter where you surf. It doesn't matter what you open in mail. It doesn't matter if you keep your system updated.

What matters is the combination of it all!

You have to do EVERYTHING to stay clean. No shady porn sites, no clickyclicky on shady mail, daily updates, up to date virus killer, well configured firewall, ...

"Gaaaaah... too much work!" is the answer you'll get from Joe Schmoe Average. "All I wanna do is surf, I don't wanna worry about system stability, Browser plugins and antivirus."

Well, all I want to do with my car is drive around. And still I gotta worry about red lights and directional lanes. Why the heck do I? It makes me slower and keeps me from getting right where I want to be!

Oh. Right. I enjoy being alive and have an operational car.