Newspaper article:
Study spyware, viruses abound on home computers!
While most Americans keep sensitivies personal information on their PC's, they aren't very savvy about keeping their computers secure.
The study by America Online and Washington-based National Cyber Security Alliance, a non-profit group, revealed that of the 329 broadband and dial-up Internet users surveyed in 12 states, 77 percent believed their computers were safe from online threats and most had no firewall protection, did not frequently update anti-virus software and had lots of spyware and adware floating around in their systems.
Spyware, which broadly refers to programs that let advertisers track a computer's activities, can allow hackers to steal or transmit information. Spyware also can gather information about e-mail addresses and even passwords and credit card numbers.
Four in five users had spyware or adware programs on their computers, and 89 percent of those computers were infected said they did not know the programs were on their computers, the study found.
The study reported that over half of those surveyed didn't understand the difference between anti-virus software and a firewall - software or hardware that protects outside users from entering the system - and 90 percent said they did not know what spyware programs do.
"Extrapolating the percentages in our survey, this indicates that millions of Americans are at risk and are already infected by viruses, spyware and adware," said Ken Watson, chairman of the National Cyber Security Alliance, an organization that educates consumers and businesses about cyber-security.
When researchers visited participants' homes to see how safe their computers were, they discovered that most (85 percent) had anti-virus software, but that had not recently updated it.
That alarmed Dena Haritos Tsamitis, director of outreach and education at CyLab, a Carnegie Mellon University initiative created to boost awareness of cybersecurity issues.
Internet users should update anti-virus software weekly, if not more, to ward off hackers and other cybercrooks, she said.
Tsamitis noted that fending off spyware for your average PC user can be tricky.
"You can download spyware without even realizing it," she said.
And hackers are getting smarter about how they fool PC usersinto clicking on a link that could make their PCs vulnerable. Some have gone so far as to create pop-ups ads that lure users in by posing as downloads of free anti-virus software.
The spyware then camps quietly in a computer collecting information on what Web sites the user visits, even collecting personal data and then funneling it back to hackers.
While most people know what spyware is, the study showed that they weren't sure how to ward off cyber-intruders. Over 60 percent said that they did not use a firewall. (Scripps Howard News Service).
