Anti-spyware fails security targets
Anti-spyware fails security targets
Mar 15, 2005: A study conducted by Blue Coat, a security appliance maker, has revealed that anti-spyware software products for desktops are failing to meet their basic goal of eliminating spyware from computers.
339 IT professionals were surveyed who has use software products from CA (PestPatrol), Kaspersky, Lavasoft (Ad-Aware), McAfee, Microsoft, Spybot, Symantec, and/or Webroot to clean desktop computers.
Steve Mullaney, the vice president of marketing for Blue Coat, said: "Spyware will soon be a bigger threat than viruses because it is profit-motivated, backed by venture capital, and easily created.
"While desktop software is the only answer for consumers, enterprises are likely to see their costs spiral unless they implement a "defence-in-depth" strategy that includes a gateway anti-spyware solution. Only a proxy-based solution can prevent spyware while actually improving overall Web performance."
The survey found that the spyware problem is getting worse, with 84 percent of enterprise IT professionals believing the spyware problem is the same or worse than it was three months ago. Only 16 percent believe it is getting better.
72 percent of the people surveyed said that the current desktop software products available today are ineffective in protecting their computers from spyware.
39 percent of the IT professionals were from companies with 500 workers or less, 44 percent from organisations with 501 to 10,000 users and 17 percent from companies with more than 10,000 users.
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