WebRoot recently released their report on State of Spyware in 2005 and said that last year was the worst year for spyware yet. They catalogued 130 security breaches due to spyware that exposed 55 million users and their data in the United States alone.
I'd believe it. In a year when even large companies like Sony are busy trying hide spyware on people's systems so they can "prevent theft" the threat to people will only keep growing.
The first step is vigilance, and knowing who's making the spyware.
Luckily, people like webroot, Avast, even Microsoft make good tools available to use to protect your system. Download them and use them often. It's your personal data on the line.
Update your advice?
Ms anti-spyware is *****.
[quote]
Microsoft Downgrades Claria Adware Detections
By Ryan Naraine
July 6, 2005
Microsoft's Windows AntiSpyware application is no longer flagging adware products from Claria Corp. as a threat to PC users.
[endquote] source:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1834607,00.asp
Patrick