Security sins - expert opinion

“Adware has grown dramatically as a means of making money. The issue is that sometimes these programs are installed on a PC surreptitiously or without adequate consent, so people may not know that there is something monitoring them. An important point is that these programs are not there to steal anything. Adware companies make their money from selling
targeted ads based on observed user habits and preferences.”

“Spyware is very different. It is more intrusive in terms of privacy, and is more aggressive in its attempts to bury itself, so that it can continue to monitor your behaviour while remaining unnoticed for as long as possible.”

“In the last year, we have seen another trend with more targeted attacks and increases in the amount of financially-motivated malware being written. With the increase in volume, frequency and complexity of threats, security companies find it hard to swiftly address all attacks. They must prioritise fixes, meaning malware writers often have a window of opportunity to steal data.”

“Most recently, we have seen that an innocent-looking file can now contain malware. The malware writers have learned how to embed a malicious payload into any kind of attachment. So even a simple word-processed or PDF document you receive can be dangerous.”