 As if we don’t have enough trouble with spam, viruses, and worms, spyware has now officially become a widespread problem for computer users around the world. A recent report by Internet Service Provider EarthLink Inc. and Webroot Software Inc. revealed that the average computer they tested had 28 spyware programs running in the background.
Earthlink used its SpyAudit service to conduct scans of over one million Internet-connected computers. SpyAudit is a free scan service that EarthLink uses to promote its Spyware Blocker software.
SpyAudit found more than 29 million spyware programs running on just over one million computers. Many of these were relatively harmless ad-displaying programs. However, the report also indicated that more than 300,000 of these programs were capable of stealing personal information from infected computers. These programs included Trojan horses that return information to outside sources and keystroke monitor programs that monitor every keystroke typed into the host computer. Spyware of this type is often used in identity theft scams.
Spyware is a term that describes software that is installed on a computer that runs covertly in the background. These programs usually piggy-back with other software that a computer user downloads from the Internet. Most users are unaware that such software is running on their computers. Most would be astonished to find 28 spyware programs residing on their computer.
For more information on Spyware and how it works, see my Scary Spyware story. For more information on two free Spyware removal programs, see my review of Ad-aware and Spybot Search and Destroy.
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