* Companies concerned about spyware, starting to combat it
Spyware is rapidly becoming one of the more serious problems in corporate messaging systems and on home PCs alike.
Spyware saps the processing power of these systems, but much more importantly it creates an opportunity for the loss of intellectual property by intercepting sensitive or confidential data, and it can lead to even more spam by monitoring use of the Web.
In a recently completed survey on security, we found that nearly half of large organizations are concerned or extremely concerned about the leak of sensitive information from their networks, and spyware is a major contributor to these concerns. When asked to rate their concern about spyware and adware, 82% of messaging decision-makers said they were concerned or very concerned about it.
Most organizations have deployed desktop software in an effort to rid their networks of this stuff. A smaller percentage of organizations are using URL filtering to eliminate spyware, although this approach is taken a bit more in larger organizations than in smaller ones. Another approach is using dedicated spyware blockers at the gateway – these blockers are used in two out of five larger organizations, but only in one out of five smaller ones. About one in seven organizations is doing nothing about spyware at this point.
I believe spyware remediation today is still pretty much in its infancy, despite the fact that there are some very sophisticated and useful tools available. Spyware was the buzz of the RSA Conference in San Francisco a few months back, much like spam was the buzz at industry conferences a few years ago. The acceleration of spyware deployment will occur this year, however, as more organizations begin to realize the damaging effects of spyware on their networks and as more horror stories emerge from the trenches.
