McAfee reveals: Celebrity sites now overtake porn sites for adware/virus installs ~

Tuesday, September 12, 2006: The latest report from McAfee Avert Labs, titled `Adware and Spyware: Unraveling the Financial Web', has revealed that star and celebrity websites are the most prolific distributors of adware. The report says that these sites, against the popular notion, proliferate adware even more than the adult and pornography websites.

The McAfee paper highlights the financial incentives fueling the rise of adware and spyware, the prevalence of adware and spyware, and culprits behind the problem. According to the report, the prevalence of adware and spyware is increasing exponentially, and by August 2006, there were approximately 450 adware families with more than 4,000 variants.

In addition, a recent survey by McAfee SiteAdvisor found that 97 per cent of Internet users could not differentiate safe from unsafe sites, meaning that the majority of users are just one click away from downloading potentially unwanted programs.

“The emergence of lucrative online affiliate-marketing business models and the widespread ease with which adware and spyware can be spread have made them prominent features in the threat landscape,” said Jeff Green, senior vice president of product development, McAfee, Inc. SOURCE

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Do you think now maybe these scum will focus more on celeb sites and stop targeting the adult entertainment arena?

Would you ever consider installing a trojan/adware script if it would put a few extra hundred dollars in your pocket every week?