Spyware Attacks Deepen in UK

UK business is experiencing aggravated spyware problems because of its complicated nature and employees surfing stuff not related to work. The "PC World Business" (PCWB) published a research on October 4, 2006, which says 50% of UK businesses were hit by spyware while 14% remained unaware of spyware and its impact. The research further said that 26% were not sure if they were guarded against attacks, and two in five IT managers know that their staff lacked knowledge of spyware loaded websites.

The services director of PCWB, Mr. Richard Harrison said they were more worried about those businesses that reported no affect. To add to the crisis, half of the UK businesses do not initiate awareness among their staff regarding spyware risks nor do they implement protection against websites, which can download spyware. These days, spyware is becoming very hard to detect and eliminate once its installs itself on the PCs. The latest versions are even more complicated as they hide in the most interior parts of Microsoft's most used 'Windows operating system'. This makes removal difficult without damaging the PC. If this is not enough, spyware companies have invented methods to hide from the computer itself.

A lot of spyware is designed specifically for English nations, which is why infection is high in UK. However, two other countries with even higher rates of infections are USA and Thailand. In the survey of businesses that reported being affected by spyware, 28% spent nearly an hour to erase the problem, while 10% devoted two hours to a day to be free from spyware in their IT networks.
In a larger perspective, it is important that businesses develop and implement a policy favorable to Internet and also enforce an effective Web security solution. Companies must avoid unlimited, non-work related browsing that not only eats on bandwidth resulting in lower productivity but also open corporate networks to Internet viruses, spyware, adware and the likes that can compromise corporate information.

The best protection against spyware is deploying multi-layered defenses. As new challenges arise, users also need to apply new defenses to fight them.

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» SPAMfighter News - 10/10/2006