Will spyware cause system gridlock within a year?

The problem of spyware on home and corporate desktops is reaching epidemic levels according to many in the security industry, but with much of it going undetected it is still very much a silent killer.

And such terms are no exaggeration, with one spyware expert telling silicon.com that the high levels of rogue data traffic and the crippling clutter of spy applications on infected systems will see many PCs simply grinding to a halt.

Putting a positive spin on such grim predictions, Roger Thompson, director of content research for CA's eTrust Pest Patrol and Anti-Spyware solutions, said: "The good news is that if it's left unchecked users' computers will just start grinding to a halt. As we saw with spam this will mean users and businesses simply cannot continue to ignore the problem. They will have to deal with it in order to get anything done."

Security consultant Neil Barrett said this prediction is very much "worst case scenario", but added "I totally agree that if spyware continues to grow as a problem at the current rate it will become a serious issue by the end of the year".

Barrett said the large amounts of memory on most machines and increasing bandwidth mean 'gridlock' is unlikely, but that's not to say the underlying message in Thompson's comments - that the impact of spyware will have a considerable impact on the running of PCs and networks - is too wide of the mark.

"The really damaging stuff is having a massive impact," said Barrett. "But as it becomes evident users' systems are running lots of other applications users will have to start taking the problem seriously."

Barrett likened awareness of spyware to that seen with the problem of spam. While it was only a personal issue it wasn't treated too seriously. When it became a corporate problem some started to take note and when it became a global, network problem everybody woke up.

"By next year spyware could have become a global network problem," said Barrett.

Many spyware applications, such as "ad-herding" tool bars and pop-up launchers are very obvious to the user but there is also a plague of more covert tools which are finding their way onto users' machines.

Among the methods identified are lines of code which sit on websites waiting to commit a 'drive-by' downloading, dropping onto users; machines as they navigate the web. Many are left on sites which have been created solely for that purpose, using content users might be looking for as a lure. Traditionally this has been associated with pornographic websites and those in the darker corners of the internet, but now even seemingly innocuous sites could be infecting users.

silicon.com has learned that even websites which purport to offer spyware removal tools are actually loading the very things they claim to remove onto unsuspecting users machines.