Consumers Perceive Decreased Online Threats

Identity theft remained the number one concern of consumers, but just slightly fewer than half said that spyware was a significant concern to them. This figure has increased slightly from last year’s survey. Unfortunately, many consumers still do not recognize that spyware is one of the major routes to identity theft.

Rogue Web sites, compromised legitimate sites and malicious advertising links that can hijack a browser session are all routes to new spyware infections. Spyware can be used to observe browsing habits, trick users into purchasing useless software, steal credit card information, account information and passwords to sensitive sites like online banking facilities.

No Decline In Actual Security Threat

There is no actual reduced threat from spyware. In fact, quite the opposite is occurring. In what appears to be a dangerous trend, however, consumers are becoming complacent or are failing to recognize the real danger that spyware poses to their online security.

Fortunately, Spyware Doctor, the world’s number one spyware removal tool, is better than ever at identifying, disabling and preventing spyware infections. Spyware Doctor has won numerous awards from recognized leaders in the industry. PC Week, PC Advisor, PC Magazine and CNET all have given Spyware Doctor their highest awards.

Spyware Doctor Is Up To The Task

Real time tests show that Spyware Doctor can identify spyware infection attempts before they do any damage to your computer. Spyware Doctor also outperforms other spyware removal tools, whether the threat is well-known or brand new. Millions of users around the world rely on Spyware Doctor to keep their PCs clean and free of spyware, malware and annoying adware.

Don’t fall victim to keyloggers that record your passwords, account information and browsing habits. Don’t allow malicious Trojans onto your system that could compromise your safety and turn your computer into a spam or virus distribution tool for an unauthorized third party. Get Spyware Doctor and protect your privacy and your assets from the prying eyes of thieves.

Spyware Doctor is among the best protection your money can buy! Find out why so many people entrust their computer to Spyware Doctor.

Photo Credit: Jason Hunken

Spyware Is Profitable For Scammers

There’s Big Money In Spyware

What’s worse than that, somewhere between seven and 12 percent of the redirected visitors paid an additional $50 for useless, rogue anti-spyware software. Now keep in mind that these visitors were redirected from legitimate Web sites, perhaps through ads planted on the sites or bogus comments on blogs. Even more sinister techniques involving hacking could have been used to compromise the sites.

The scammers also use search engine optimization techniques to make the compromised sites and the target rogue site appear high in the search engine results for particular keywords and phrases. These techniques led even more unsuspecting victims to the rogue sites directly from the search engine results.

Spyware is big business, and the more the scammers can distribute, the better off they’ll live. How can you prevent yourself from becoming a victim? You can’t control which sites get compromised, and you may not even know that you’re visiting a compromised site, but you can get the protection you need to prevent yourself from becoming a victim.

Spyware Doctor offers real-time protection against spyware and malware infections. Once installed on your computer, Spyware Doctor keeps track of what you download and prevents you from installing infected and suspicious files. That’s the kind of protection you need day in and day out.

Spyware Doctor has been downloaded by millions of PC users who want to keep their computers free from noxious malware. Spyware Doctor has been tested independently and has proven itself time and time again. No other program has won as many awards and distinctions from industry experts. Spyware Doctor is the number one spyware removal tool on the market today for a reason. It finds the malware that other spyware removal tools leave behind. Choose Spyware Doctor for the cleanest clean you can get!

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Spyware King Gets Four Years For Building Botnets

Mahalo, a startup search engine company, employed Schiefer. Mahalo executives denied knowing that Schiefer was involved in criminal activities, despite Schiefer’s previous convictions. Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis says that he hopes to rehire Schiefer once he is released from prison.

Schiefer reportedly developed his botnet when he was employed by 3G Communications of Los Angeles. The malicious software allowed Schiefer to see private financial transactions and empty victims’ PayPal and bank accounts.

Schiefer also collected funds from Internet marketing companies to install adware on unsuspecting victims, and used his network of compromised computers to launch denial-of-service attacks on Web sites. As part of his sentence, Schiefer must make restitution of nearly $20,000 to PayPal and other victims of his illegal activities. His sentence is relatively light; Schiefer had faced up to 60 years in prison and fines of up to $1.75 million dollars.

Spyware Doctor Can Help Prevent Infections

The hundreds of thousands of computers Schiefer used in his botnet weren’t protected with Spyware Doctor. If they had been, they wouldn’t have been infected with some of the most dangerous spyware around. They also wouldn’t have been infected with the adware that Schiefer deposited on many of the compromised computers.

Spyware Doctor is the number one choice of millions of computer users around the world. Spyware Doctor is highly effective at finding, disabling and removing dangerous and annoying spyware, adware, Trojans, keyloggers and other malicious software that can turn your computer into a zombie in someone else’s botnet army.

Spyware Doctor offers extensive protection against even the latest malware and spyware threats. It is recommended by some of the industry’s top publications, and offers free customer support.

Best of all, Spyware Doctor is easy to use. It loads easily, works fast, and is very thorough. Spyware Doctor offers real-time protection, which means that our software prevents spyware from being downloaded to your computer in the first place. Spyware Doctor finds the spyware that other products leave behind, offering you the best protection you can find against today’s malware threats.

Photo Credit: Christopher Boyd

Spyware Protect 2009 Problems? Check Out XoftSpy SE

Spyware Protect 2009 Is Anything But

A current spyware threat is Spyware Protect 2009. This unfortunate piece of rogue anti-spyware malware masquerades as spyware protection. Instead, it’s the exact opposite and opens doors to a number of malware infections that will slow your computer down and make your browsing and Internet usage unsafe.

What exactly do you risk with a Spyware Protect 2009 infection? The purpose of the product is to scare you into purchasing useless spyware removal software. The program loads nearly three dozen executable files, fake executables and zero-byte files onto your computer. The program then “detects” these files and issues security warnings designed to scare you into purchasing the product. The alerts indicate that your computer is being attacked remotely, or that Windows has detected a malware infection. Spyware Protect 2009 won’t “remove” these files until you’ve paid for the product download.

In reality, the fake malware files are just that – fake. They will cause no harm to your computer, but simply deleting the files won’t get rid of the infection. These files will be recreated each time the computer is turned on, and you’ll be inundated with fake alert messages. You need competent spyware removal software to eliminate this nuisance, its associated files and repair the registry for your computer.

XoftSpy SE Offers Real Spyware Protection

XoftSpy SE is an excellent tool to identify malware and spyware threats on your computer, remove them and clean up the mess they leave behind. These programs often leave registry entries that change the way your computer behaves, and slows the performance of your computer noticeably.

XoftSpy SE can eliminate thousands of spyware threats and put the protection in place you need to browse the Internet safely. XoftSpy SE uses a database of literally hundreds of thousands of known spyware, adware and malware programs and their variants.

XoftSpy SE can do this and more. With real spyware protection, you can free yourself of these threats and scams. XoftSpy SE detects and removes even the worst malware: adware, pop-up generators, Trojans, spyware, keyloggers and hijackers that redirect your browser to infected sites. You control the frequency with which XoftSpy SE scans your computer for new infections, and the XoftSpy SE database, one of the largest available, is updated constantly. That means your protection is also updated constantly.

Don’t take chances with your spyware protection. Get real protection you can trust. Get XoftSpy SE from Sywareblockers.org.

Photo Credit: Christopher Boyd

Spyware Is More Than A Nuisance

Currently, identity theft costs nearly $57 billion each year. While this doesn’t normally come out of the pockets of the victims of identity theft, the cost of this fraud is passed along to all consumers through higher interest rates on credit purchases and higher transaction fees.

Common Routes To Identity Theft

Eliminating the most common routes to identity theft (phishing and spyware) could reduce the cost of consumer fraud by nearly 100 percent. Other than being vigilant and savvy, there’s not much that can be done to stop phishing. Phishing is an attack that relies on “social engineering.” These attacks usually attempt to gain the trust of an individual, either through legitimate-looking email or other schemes that involve receiving email from a trusted source.

Spyware, on the other hand, is absolutely treatable. Like phishing, spyware attacks require the user to download the offending software. Unlike phishing, however, more sophisticated spyware can download itself if the user visits an infected Web site or clicks on a link that redirects the user to a malicious site. Free software can be infected with spyware as well, and altered copies of legitimate software programs can also deliver a spyware payload.

Anti-Spyware Protection Is Key

With spyware, you never know where the next attack will come from. Where one attack fails, another might succeed. The battle against spyware is continuous and exhausting. To protect your computer and your personal information, you need to load anti-spyware software on your computer. Like anti-virus software, anti-spyware/anti-malware software is updated regularly. As new infections are discovered, the malware definitions are updated to help keep your computer safe from the latest threats.

With up-to-date spyware protection loaded on your computer, you reduce the chance that you or someone in your household will become a victim of a spyware infection. You can protect your personal data, your account information, access codes and passwords. You can also be sure that as new threats arise, your anti-spyware software will be able to identify and disable them before they can do any real damage to your computer.

Still don’t think that anti-spyware software is necessary? Maybe this will change your mind. While consumers aren’t often held responsible for unauthorized charges on their credit cards, experts estimates that it costs the average consumer about $1,200 and 40 hours of time to clean up a credit report that has been damaged as the result of identity theft. How much is 40 hours of your time worth?

Photo Credit: Steve Woods