Still, consumers with a minor in the house are likelier to encounter spyware on their computer, as are people who use file-sharing sites such as Kazaa, Fox said. "When people think of spyware most people are thinking pop-ups and maybe 'my browser is not working right,' but there's a not-so-insignificant incidence of ex-spouses and ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends using spyware to spy," Fox said. Key loggers that are installed on people's computers can record a victim's keystrokes and send the information to another computer, Fox said. The Consumer Reports survey also pointed to a problem that's potentially more worrisome than a hit to one's bank account: Spyware that's used to spy on others.
Still, those who did lose money to phishing scams faced a median loss of $850, the survey found. Less than 1% of survey respondents said they lost money to such a scam. Most consumers were able to avoid financial losses from phishing e-mails, messages purporting to be from reputable banks and other companies which instead direct consumers to fake Web sites where scammers collect consumers' personal and account data. If you don't protect yourself, chances are nobody's going to do it for you." That's why consumer education is so important. "It's really up to people to protect themselves. "Consumers are really on their own," he said. We still feel the problem is severe and that it's more important right now to urge people to protect themselves," Fox said. The good news is that the incidence of infection from viruses or spyware dropped slightly from last year, though it's too early to call it a downward trend, said Jeff Fox, technology editor for Consumer Reports.
About one-third of those hit by viruses said the infection forced them to reformat their hard drives, 16% said they lost important data, and 8% had to replace hardware.Ībout one in eight consumers faced a serious problem from spyware, such as losing files or having to reformat their hard drive, forcing them to spend a median $100 on repair and other costs. About one in four Internet users said a virus infected their computer in the past two years, costing victims a median $109 to fix the problem, with some consumers reporting losses in the thousands of dollars.
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