State Of The Net

I subscribe to Consumer Reports magazine, a monthly magazine that is a watchdog for consumers. It sells no advertising space and is a non profit organization that has been exposing consumer problems, scams, rating the best and worst products etc...since before I was born. I like the magazine and usually consult it before making a big purchase. it provides independent ratings as to which selection is the best buy based on quality and price.
A recent issue concerned the state of the internet for the consumer, and included recommendations on which computers and virus programs were rated highest and a whole slew of information about computer scams and protection strategies for computer users. So here I am to mention some things about this issue of Consumer Reports (I am not a virus...I promise). According the CR the risks associated with using the Internet remains high.
Here are some statistics it gathered to support the claim.
* Spam- 1 in 2 users experience high levels of spam. But most of the spam is innocuous if merely deleted by the computer user. Spam represents an astounding 94% of all E mail sent and has increased 161 percent in the past year. The good news! Much of that spam is deleted by spam filters before even reaching us (But I want to get the amusing ones). 30 percent of users said they received porno spams, a 10% decrease from last year. (Maybe the porno Kings and Queens are too busy to spam as much). Only 28% of users now fall for the trap of clicking on a link "to remove your name form our mailing list" (that ensures it will be there for life). That is a decrease of 12% since three years ago. Maybe we are wising up about spam.
* Viruses- Consumer Reports found that 1 in 5 users during the past year had a costly problem as a result of a computer virus with a net cost of 3.3 billion dollars and an average per costly incident of $100. Viruses were found be have held steady in frequency the past year. Roughly 1-500 E mail messages is infected with a virus (according the the virus security firm, Postini, CR consulted for data). Because virus writing tools are easier to use now, CR says there will be many more new viruses propagated in the coming year. The biggest rise in viruses is the so called "Botnets". Those are the networks of hijacked computers that criminals use to send spam or infect your computer. One way of knowing you have been Botneted (I just made up that word...don't bother looking it up) is you receive returned mail that you did not send with an "unable to deliver" message. Consumer Reports mentions a number of virus types and also that social networking sites like ICQ,Yahoo Chat. MSN Messenger and others are are now being used more often as launch pads fro viruses.
* Spyware- 1 in 11 computers was infected with spyware last year to the extent that it presented a costly repair problem for the computer owner. The average cost to fix the problem was $100 and the total in damages last year due to spyware was 1.7 billion dollars. The good news is that Consumer Reports says infections dropped the past year and there is now a 1 in 3 chance of getting a spyware infection on your computer. So advertisers are still spying an tracking our computer's use (you better stay away from those porno sites!) There is even a lawsuit now contending that Yahoo used spyware for some time in its own ads. Spyware is now also turning up in some sponsored links in those search engines we all love to use. Many of the links supplied by search engines lead to risky sites.
*Phishing- Phishing is the bogus E mail from your bank, retailers, internet service providers that look real, are not, and prompt you to a site that looks real but is not. You are prompted to give information the attacker can use to steal your money m identity and ....in a way..diginity (for feeling stupid enough to fall for the phishing scam). I love the name "phishing" for this activity, a creative use of English that says it all. Whomever coined the term deserves a lifetime free from phishes and other internet scams. Consumer Reports says that about 30,000 phishing attacks occurred each month last year and that 1 in 81 computer users lost money to phishng. The total cost per incident averaged $200 with a total of 2.1 billion dollars stolen last year in phishing attacks.
Are you scared yet? Haha Anyway, CR goes on to suggest the solutions we all know to prevent such attacks, software to fought them, common sense when using the computer and staying away from suspect sites and activity. But of course, most people don't have the self control or foresight to use those methods. So I guess the cyber criminals will continue to plague us as much as the off line kind do,