History and development of Spyware

The initial recorded use of the term spyware occurred on October 16, 1995 in a Usenet post that poked fun at Microsoft's business model.Spyware at first denoted hardware meant for spying purposes. However, in early 2000 the founder of Zone Labs, Gregor Freund, used the name in a press let loose for the ZoneAlarm Personal Firewall. Since then, "spyware" has taken on its present sense. According to a 2005 study by AOL and the National Cyber-Security Alliance, 61% of surveyed users' computers had some form of spyware. 92% of surveyed users with spyware reported that they did not know of its occurrence, and 91% reported that they had not given authorization for the installation of the spyware.[3] As of 2006, spyware has become one of the most excellent security threats to computer systems running Microsoft Windows operating systems. In calculate approximately based on customer-sent scan logs, Webroot Software, makers of Spy Sweeper, said that 9 out of 10 computers linked to the Internet are infected.Computers where Internet Explorer (IE) is the primary browser are particularly vulnerable to such attacks not only because IE is the most widely-used, but because its stiff integration with Windows allows spyware access to essential parts of the operating system.