Spyware has been attracting attention primarily because of the risk of identity theft and subsequent online fraud. Earlier this week, Gartner released a report that estimated total checking account fraud -- much of it due to a combination of spyware and phishing attacks -- took cost American banks and consumers $2.4 billion in the last 12 months.
"Viruses we all understand," Moll said. "It's a $15 billion business, but in the end it's more vandalism than anything. Spyware has a lot of commonality with viruses, but one of the differences is the financial motive behind spyware."
And spyware isn't just a home user problem, said Moll. "The average amount of spyware [on business machines] is no less than outside the corporation. One of the problems is that people think that they're safer at work, that the company is diligent in maintaining defenses. But that only gives a false sense of security," he added, since most enterprises don't have anti-spyware protections in place.
A pair of vendors have recently introduced solutions to address the problem in enterprises. Last week, both PestPatrol and Webroot rolled out server-client software that lets administrators seek and destroy spyware on their networks' desktops.
According to Moll, Webroot will add the SpyAudit technology to its Spy Sweeper Enterprise solution in the near future, giving IT administrators the ability to do a snapshot of their networks' spyware status.
The EarthLink/Webroot SpyAudit results can be viewed on the EarthLink Web site. Webroot's free SpyAudit tool detects spyware, while EarthLink subscribers can use its Spyware Blocker to find and disable spyware.
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