More spyware in the news! Symantec's Norton Security products finally join the anti-spyware party!
Yahoo! News - Symantec Hops Aboard Anti-Spyware Train:
"Taking a page out of rival Microsoft Corp.'s playbook, Symantec Corp. rolled out a free public beta of the new Norton Internet Security 2005 AntiSpyware Edition, adding spyware-detection capabilities to a product suite that already features virus protection, spam detection, intrusion protection and content filtering."
eWeek - Symantec Preps Anti-Spyware Launch as Revenue Climbs:
Symantec Preps Anti-Spyware Launch as Revenue Climbs - By Mark Hachman - eWeek
"Executives at security solutions provider Symantec said they're confident that the company's business will continue to thrive in the face of Microsoft's Windows XP Service Pack 2, and they promised a comprehensive anti-spyware package in the next few weeks.
"In a conference call Wednesday announcing the company's earnings for the second fiscal quarter, executives said Symantec's revenues had increased dramatically from the same period last year, even lacking the presence of a big-name worm that would energize sales."
Anti-spyware warrior, Eric Howe, has some interesting points to make as he reminisces on the state of the spyware problem in The FTC Spyware Workshop: One Year Later
One year ago this week (April 19 to be precise), the FTC hosted its Spyware Workshop: ... Unfortunately, the most significant developments in the year since the FTC workshop are all bad news for internet users.
Hmmm... Eric's summary of the current state of things forgets to mention a recent survey indicating that 90% (9 in 10!) of PCs are infested with some kind of adware/malware/spyware. I'm looking for a link to the news article... Ah... there it is!
Panda Software - Press release
Glendale, CA - March 29, 2005 - Spyware is one of the most common security risks and directly affects user privacy. Whatâ??s more, it is one of the main reasons why users call internal technical support centers in companies. The data is surprising: according to a recent report compiled by the companies Webroot and Earthlink, 9 in 10 computers have spyware installed. This means that 90 percent of computers are affected by this type of malware.
Whats more, an average of 25 spyware programs were installed on the computers studied. Similarly, data collected by Panda Softwareâ??s free online antivirus solution, Panda ActiveScan -the new version of which also detects spyware-, shows that 84 percent of the malware installed on computers is spyware.
Shameless plug: We just got the latest version of Panda Anti-Virus/Anti-spy in stock at Staples. And it really is an excellent product that's worth checking out.