"Trends" report encourages caution; users need not panic

Posted by Maxim Weinstein Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:45:00 GMT

Our “Trends in Badware 2007” report, released yesterday, has been picked up in a variety of blogs and news articles.

Reading through some of the coverage, a web user or site owner could be tempted to panic. After all, if one of the messages is that even legitimate sites and ad networks can be sources of badware, isn’t the web itself becoming less safe?

Not really. What we have seen is just the latest shift in how attackers do their dirty work, and the Internet community is adjusting quickly, as it typically does. Search engines, browser companies, security vendors, volunteers, StopBadware, and other organizations have taken steps—from identifying and blocking access to infected sites to spreading the word about how to protect your PC or your web site—to minimize the threats and keep the Internet safe.

Mass e-mail worms, floppy disk-borne viruses… new threats are developed, new ways of addressing them are created, and soon they become threats of the past, just as the current threats will. The Internet has shown the potential to be a self-correcting system, and we here at StopBadware aim to ensure it stays that way.