One In Six PCs Infected With Spyware, Malware

November 4, 2007 1:29 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Spyware and malware programs are emerging at rates of 5,000 to 10,000 per day and as many as one in six PCs may be infected, according to a recent study made by U.K. security vendor Prevx of 300,000 personal computers.

Of the 300,000 PCs, the ones with no security software installed at all had infections rate 60 percent higher than those running some sort of antivirus, anti-malware, or other security program, it said.

Malware and spyware is often downloaded in the background from web sites, many of which are known to spread unwanted or malicious code, PC World reports.

Prevx claims the ability of security software from Microsoft, Symantec, and Trend Micro to detect newly released spyware and malware over the past three months hovered between 10 and 50 percent.

The most recent malware attack on a large scale involved the employment search site Monster.com in late August. Identity thieves made off with the personal information of more than a million people logging on to the site.

The resume database was penetrated and names, e-mail addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers and resume IDs were stolen.

The attackers accessed the resume database with legitimate usernames and passwords.