Consumer Reports: $7 Billion Lost to Online Threats
The latest Consumer Reports survey states that US Consumers have lost more than $7 billion in the past two years due to viruses, spyware, and phishing e-mails.
From Consumer Reports:
Based on survey projections, computer virus infections prompted an estimated 1.8 million households to replace their computers in the past two years and 850,000 households to replace computers due to spyware infections in the past six months. Additionally, 33 percent of survey respondents did not use software to block or remove spyware. And CR projects that 3.7 million US households with broadband remain unprotected by a firewall.
If one were to assume that only 10% of those 1.8 million compromised machines were turned into spam-sending zombies, that would be 180,000 new sources of spam in the past two years. Keep in mind that these were the households that actually decided to spend their hard-earned money to replace an otherwise good machine. Imagine the number of families that have a compromised machine that may “run a little slow from time to time” but they keep around because they’re unwilling or unable to clean the machine or purchase a new one. The potential for spam-sending zombies sitting inside the average household is enormous.
As for the impact of spam itself upon these families:
Consumer Reports™ survey respondents have reported a lower proportion of spam reaching their Inbox than in the past, which CR believes is a result of better spam-blocking. Survey results indicate that about 650,000 consumers ordered a product or service advertised through spam in the month before the survey. Additionally, in 5 percent of the households surveyed that had children under 18, a child had inadvertently seen pornographic material as a result of spam.
Whenever we at Heluna read these types of results, we’re always astonished at the amount of money actually spent upon products advertised by spam. The one easiest way to slow the flood of spam is to stop purchasing items advertised in spam messages.
